Peer Review for Jason Boley

In this blog post, I will go over my peer review for Jason Boley.

I reviewed Jason Boley's content outline, which can be seen here. For Jason's content outline, I made a brainstorming suggestion, where I told him that I believe the audience would lose focus over the course of the beginning of the video as he goes over information that the audience is already aware of, the details of what the projects were. I believe I helped him because I understand where Jason is coming from by going over the projects, however we all know the details and his attempt to get the audience's attention would only lose them.

I based this off of the video essays that we watched in class, and how repetition of the obvious made the video essay drag on extensively for a longer period than was necessary. Also the discussion in class, where the idea that going over the details of the project was not necessary as we all know what the projects are. I admired the way that they structured their video essay, it gave the project a very logical sense of direction and progress, which is extremely nice for this final reflection.

Final Production Report 2

In this blog post, I am going to compare another segment of my outline to a segment of my rough final project.

Outline Item

I also revised this project extremely heavily, as I started out this project trying to balance sexism and racism within the comic book industry, and I cut out the racism aspect which got rid of an entire other argument with evidence that I had laid out. This scares me still, however I believe that despite whatever grade I get the project benefited from my revisions.

Adaptation of Outline Item

Only towards the very end of the writing process did I notice that there was a glaring problem with my project. In fact the revision date only took place the week of August 24th, the week that the project was due ("Tim Wils - English"). The project was being produced with too broad of a concept, and I realized that I had made the mistake of not seriously going over my plans during the brainstorming phase. I had immediately gone with one of the first ideas that had come to mind, and while the idea was overall a good one for me it was too broad of an argument. I had to make the choice to entirely remove and portion of my project, in order for the project to become streamlined and focused on the ideas that I believed were most important to me as an individual. I had never before taken a project so late into it's process and edited the project so heavily, especially with the due date drawing closer. This ability to look at my work critically and see a flaw in the project, and understand that revision is necessary at such a large scale is a drastic improvement on my writing process. While there is fear in regards to this issue, as such a heavy revision so late might have taken away importance from my project, I believe that editing my own work is something that I learned how to do at a far greater level thanks to my work on Project 3.

I decided that while citations should not take a major place on my work in this paper, I believe that when possible it is good for the project to introduce citations at some point. While they are not all important, it does establish the genre conventions in a very strong way, and I believe that it also helps give the paper alone a better feel of credibility. I also tried to elaborate further and use the correct tone to try and establish credibility, while also keeping within the requirements of the assignment as well.

The production of this raw material was completely fine. I remember Project 3 extremely well as it was the most recent project, and the segment discussed here is something that I still currently am nervous about as well. The revision process during this project was extensive, and I am still nervous that I may have cut out too much of my project. These feelings that I discussed here have not changed since that point in time, and I write with the same intention as I did at the time it occurred.

Final Production Report 1

In this blog post, I am going to compare the outline to the rough cut of my final project.

Outline Item

Planning out the rest of the semester was an extremely daunting task to complete, and I was unsure if I was going to be able to complete it effectively. This was my first encounter with time management in this class, and it was the most serious and long term planning that I truly encountered in college, especially with most of this semester being a sort of pick my own poison sort of mentality.

Adaptation of Outline Item

Time management was an aspect of my writing process that I found immensely inefficient coming into this class. From the very beginning, I was unsure of myself when faced with the decision on which genres should I assign myself for the rest of this semester. I had only written essays before, and the other genres were very unfamiliar to me at the time. I decided that it would be prudent of me to save the essay for the final project, as essays come more natural. I had known that with finals and the audition into the BFA Acting program at the end of the semester, I thought it best to leave the most familiar genre for that time frame as a gift of sorts for the end of the semester. However, forcing myself to work in unfamiliar genres very early was a difficult decision, and made this course a terrifying prospect moving forward. I was unsure of myself and my own abilities, and I immediately began to lower my expectations for a high grade in this class. Not due to my lack of will power or determination to try, but because of the automatic assumption that my best writing would not be good enough.

I decided that form would be most important here in that I would try and strike the right tone of a college essay, while also trying to complete the topic of the project in self-reflection of my character and growth as a writer from this semester. I tried to explain myself in a way that gave myself credibility with more thorough and expressive word choice, and I believe that this is the best way that my essay is going to show credibility, rather than the citations or sources that I am using as those sources are going to be all coming from me.

The production of this raw material is very easy to produce, as I remember very distinctly these emotions and memories from the beginning of the semester. There are no hiccups as I remember what I am going to be discussing in my essay quite clearly, as it only happened a few months prior and the stress or happiness that came from these moments is very easy to recall in my mind.

Production Schedule

In this blog post, I will go over my production schedule for Project 4.

By May 1st: Complete necessary blog posts for first round of Project 4.

• Begin writing rough draft, however keeping it extremely rough for blog posts sake

On May 1st: Take day to catch up with homework and finals in other classes
On May 2nd: Begin writing rough draft more extensively
On May 3rd: Complete rough draft in open class
On May 4th: Begin the editing process, show to other students in class for peer review

• Begin work on second round blog posts for Project 4

On May 4th: Begin the final draft of paper
On/By May 5th: Complete the final draft of the paper.

• Complete blog posts for Project 4.

On May 6th, around 3:00 PM: Turn in final draft of paper.

Writing shall be completed in dorm room, in class, basement of Marroney Theatre, in study room of Yuma, Main Library, The Scented Leaf, or Epic Cafe.

Only requires a charger and computer.

Content Outline

In this blog post, I am going to make a content outline for the final project.

I am going to focus on my writing process in terms of how I have evolved with adapting to unfamiliar situations, time management, and learning new technology, specifically because how these topics very much intersect for me throughout this entire semester. The paper is going to go over the details from how I handled Projects 1-3. Most of the reason that I struggled in this class is because I was confronted with very strange circumstances that I was not used to. It was extremely scary coming into this class not knowing what I was going to do and how I was going to survive through the class.

The beginning of the semester was extremely terrifying, and thoughts of dropping out from this fear were definitely running through my mind. This can all be linked back to the very first project, and the initial planning period that would structure how the rest of the semester would go. Planning out the rest of the semester was an extremely daunting task to complete, and I was unsure if I was going to be able to complete it effectively. This was my first encounter with time management in this class, and it was the most serious and long term planning that I truly encountered in college, especially with most of this semester being a sort of pick my own poison sort of mentality.

Project 2 was when I truly had to adapt to unfamiliar situations and learn new technology, which was what I truly dreaded about this semester. I did the podcast for this project, and while the podcast was not the most difficult genre that I had to work within, it definitely took a lot of time and a lot of the project had to go through serious revisions from the beginning to the end. The very first edition of the project was a complete mess, with music playing throughout the entire thing and without any introduction to credibility. Looking back on it, the difference between what the rough draft was and what the final became is night and day because of how much work had to go into revising it.

Project 3 was the project that I dreaded the most, especially because I do not have any background in videos other than minor videos I made in middle school and one project I did not do so well on in high school when I made a video on my own. I had less time to do this project because Rent would take me away for many nights and I would not return to my dorm until late, and time management became a huge thing with this project. This project went through significant revisions, especially because of the learning curve from learning how to make Windows Movie Maker, and the process it took for everything to work out the way I wanted it to. I also revised this project extremely heavily, as I started out this project trying to balance sexism and racism within the comic book industry, and I cut out the racism aspect which got rid of an entire other argument with evidence that I had laid out. This scares me still, however I believe that despite whatever grade I get the project benefited from my revisions.

I shall end off the standard college essay by explaining the ways I have entirely grown throughout this semester and how each of the projects taught me something different in terms of the overall learning process. Project 1 forced me into uncomfortable situations and forced me to adjust to this new class which was demanding so much from me. Project 2 showed me how to revise effectively, and how when being put into uncomfortable situations with learning new technology I have the ability to produce a quality product. Project 3 showed me that I could face my fears as a writer and that extensive revisions can at times lead to a much better product, and are at times extremely necessary. It also taught me how to manage my time effectively when life became busy at the end of the semester.

Peer Review for Jake Gyles

In this blog post, I will go over my peer review for Jake Gyles. 

I peer reviewed Jake Gyles, and the project can be seen here. For Jake's project, I made a content based suggestion, specifically I made note that he should really elaborate on the sources he plans to use, especially since he makes reference to studies that prove his point. I believed that I helped Jake because he is actually taking away from his own credibility by lacking specificity in his sources, because it is impossible to trust the studies that he mentions that support his point if he does not state anything about the studies given. 

I kept in mind our class discussions about credibility, and how directly referencing a source and stating their credentials and the author's own credentials are extremely important in being able to establish credibility. To make reference to a source without stating who they are or why they are important only takes away from the credibility. I do admire his thought process for how he constructs the beginning of an argument however, and his creativity as he is able to keep the audience involved and hooks them in throughout his introduction successfully

Peer Review for Jacob Corbin

In this blog post, I will go over my peer review for Jacob Corbin. 

I peer reviewed Jacob Corbin's podcast, which can be listened to here. For Jacob's project, I made a recommendation based off of form, specifically that he should try and use the different conventions of a podcast in order to maintain the audience's attention for the length of the project. I believe I was able to help Jacob because while he has a lot of content that is able to fill up over 20 minutes of time, the audience does not have that long of an attention span to maintain 20 minutes of time by just hearing 3 people talk with a clip of Star Wars audio. 

I used my experience with a podcast during Project 2, and how it was extremely difficult for me personally to be able to fill up the entire length of time with varying use of audio sources. It would have been very easy to just have myself talk the entire time, but I tried the best I could to break it up with different sources of audio in order to maintain the audience's attention throughout the project. I believe that Jacob was extremely thorough, and going out and getting the opinions of others regarding the topic and speaking with them directly was an extremely helpful way to help shape the argument. 

Reflection on Local Revision Process

In this blog post, I am going to reflect on the local revision process.

I believe that this project was much easier to complete and go through the process and deal with this week than it has been in week's past. A lot of my work that I had done at the last minute in previous weeks contributed to giving me a lot of material to work with, and made the editing process much easier as I did not have to go about completely starting over from scratch. There were a lot of changes that had to be made, and because of the work that I had done already from planning to this point, there were plenty ideas in my head that I knew I would be able to accomplish and successfully put into fruition.

There was a lot of drastic changes that needed to be made to this project to get this project to the point that it is currently at today. I had to delete around half of my project's content in order to ensure that this project had more focus and more attention to detail than originally planned. This is the most content that I have ever had to sift through, especially going from rough draft into final draft, and the differences between the two points are the most noticeable than they have ever been before. Also there was a definite learning curve when it came to Project 3, in regards to the video essay that made successful production more difficult.

Next week will definitely go better than any of the last few weeks. We are going into Project 4, the Reflection, which I had planned out since the beginning of the semester to be the easiest project for myself. A reflection is something that I find extremely easy, and the Standard College Essay is a genre that I have had the most experience with before coming into this class, and because it is just a reflection the project should be even easier as well.

I am feeling extremely nervous about this project. Because of all the material that I sifted through I am convinced that I am missing something important in my project, and I am not sure what it is. However, because I have seen the project grow it could be that I am just overthinking this project and that it is best that all of the material that I deleted got deleted in order to leave room for a more focused and central argument.

Editorial Report 4

In this blog post, I am going to compare another section of my rough cut to my fine cut.

Selection from Rough Cut

This is not an issue with comics in general, as there are many instances of women and minorities being strong and well-respected, however the instances to the contrary vastly outnumber the instances of the former.
Re-Edited Selection

While some may say that there are instances where women are represented proudly such as with characters like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and a variety of others, the treatment of a majority of female characters begs to differ. For every Wonder Woman kicking ass, there is a dead Gwen Stacy. For every Supergirl flying high, there is a Barbara Gordon confined to a wheelchair. Female characters are thrown to the side at a drop of a hat, put in danger consistently, and go through completely unnecessary suffering and abuse to further the plot lines of male characters.

The content changed in order to address a stronger counterargument and in order to emphasize the counterargument more effectively and proudly. In the original post the counterargument was more hinted at while in the fine cut I have made sure to address those that disagree with me specifically and give my explanation as to why I believe they are wrong on this issue. I believe that this better establishes my credibility, and meets the requirements at a far better capacity than I had originally planned.

The form also did not change too extensively, however I will emphasize that in the original the amount of detail and information and counterargument was extremely little, especially for a longer video as well. In the fine cut, I spend a section discussing the counterargument right at the beginning of the video, then go on to explain all of my points with clips and images to back up my points as well. The amount of detail and the amount of content that I have to support my argument against the counterargument makes the video essay far more persuasive and effective than it was originally.

Editorial Report 3

In this blog post, I will compare a section of the rough cut to the fine cut.

Selection from Rough Cut

Lastly the amount of racism that has persisted throughout the comic book industry in it’s history. Even in times where there were many fighting for their rights against racism as well. Specifically, the character of Kitty Pryde has gone about using the n word more than once. Comparing the real struggle that African Americans have gone through in history to the struggle that mutants went through within the comics is completely insensitive and irresponsible. While the context makes sense within fiction, the direct comparison is insulting to the very real struggle that African Americans have had to face, and while mutants are depicted as facing discrimination, the discrimination is still nothing but a work of fiction. Their lack of sensitivity can even be seen affecting the audience as well in recent years, as seen by the casting of Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch

Re-Edited Selection

Section has been deleted

The content drastically changed, I have removed the race element that made up the second half of my rough draft entirely. I decided that in order to give the project more focus, it would be better to focus on either sexism or racism. In order for this to be accomplished, it was best to focus on sexism as I had more examples to work with and it displayed that I had authorial control over what was occurring with this project. It gave my content more focus, and it is now more effectively able to focus on one issue within comics as opposed to trying to juggle two issues at once.

The form for the video did not change too much because of this, as both were going to be focused on clips and images speak for themselves while my narration discussed the general views of what was happening.

Revised Post to Peer Reviewers

In this post, I am going to make an open to post to peer reviewers with my final cut of the project.

My final cut can be seen here.

This project has gone through a lot of evolution to get to the point where it is now. I took the original project where it dealt with both sexism and racism and decided to focus on sexism alone as adding in racism would make the project feel too broad, and take up too much time for less quality. Because of this, a lot of material (originally at the most up to over 40 minutes worth) has been trimmed down to around 8 minutes. I am not sure if this length feels appropriate or not, however this is just the result of sifting to the most important aspects of the argument rather than relying on any filler that may make up my project.

I am unsure how about the quantity of my work anymore as I was with the rough draft, as this project I had the most amount of material to work with. A lot of that had to be sifted out to give my project focus, and I am unsure whether the change in focus truly gave more or less to my project than what I wanted originally. I am hopeful that my project does have more focus by default because it only deals with one issue, but it just feels like I am missing something. This could be because I have seen this project go from something broad to something very focused and detailed so I could just be too involved to look at this objectively.

I believe that the project does have more focus, I believe that the clips that I used speak for themselves and I believe that the project is very good from an entertainment standpoint. Personally it does not feel like a full 8 minutes of video as to the one genre example in class where 8 minutes felt like 20 minutes. I am not sure if this going quickly thing and enjoyment of the project is because I enjoy the subject matter and know how short it has gotten, but I believe it holds up to the genre conventions necessary of a video essay.

Project 3 Cheatsheet

Purpose

• What started it? How to solve it?
• Here's a good solution, here's a bad solution

Audience

• Who is this for? 
• How does the audience know this is for them?

Credibility

• Why is this issue an important
• Personal stories
• Intellectual ideas
• What is right and wrong

Emotion/Logic

• What is most effective for this argument
• My project: Emotion

Counterargument

• Address the counterargument at least once
• "I see your point about _____, but I'm right and you're still wrong and here's why"

Genre Conventions

• As per usual

Peer Review for Diego Alcantara

In this blog post, I am going to go over my peer review for Diego Alcantara.

I peer reviewed Diego Alcantara's script for the podcast, which can be viewed here. For Diego, I focused on a content based suggestion, specifically on furthering his ability to establish credibility. I believe that I helped Diego because while the suggestion is easy to add into the project, it is an extremely important aspect of the podcast that establishes credibility for the author. When an author addresses the audience and states who they are and their credentials, it is an easy way for the audience to be drawn in and listen to what the author of the podcast has to say.

I used the lecture where we listened to Project 1 examples and spoke about the beginning of the podcasts, and how each effectively started off the podcast in order to establish a relationship of trust with the audience. I could definitely take his ability to plan out the details and use them for future scripts and outlines for planning. He was able to detail out and effectively plan his entire podcast, including both the text and every sound effect he planned to include. This type of extensive planning is definitely something I should try to have for the future.

Peer Review for Leah Crowder

In this blog post, I am going to go over my peer review for Leah Crowder.

I peer reviewed Leah Crowder, and the project can be seen here. For Leah, I selected a peer review based on form, specifically for her to focus on the genre conventions of a video essay. I believe that I was able to give helpful information to Leah because while her content was very good and the information is framed in a way to hold the attention of the audience, there were other aspects of the video essay conventions like the audio and video segments used that would be sorely missed from her project.

I incorporated my previous experience, specifically with the QRG and how the grade was dropped due to my reliance on text rather than the other forms of multimedia. If there is a balance that can be created early, then the project will improve that much more for the better. I could definitely take from her example of using the words to keep the audience engaged, instead of relying too heavily on the clips that I am using. She is very good at engaging the audience through her words alone, which is something I could use for my project.

Reflection on Global Revision Process

In this blog post, I am going to reflect on the global revision process.

I believe that the most successful part of this week took place today. I was able to record the audio, cut down all of the clips into the fashion that I would like them, and I was also able to complete all of the blog posts at a reasonable hour. I also was able to compile all of the clips on Windows Movie Maker earlier this week. Overall, I was able to take the rough cut and turn it into a very rough version of a video essay. It was successful in this way that the project has made steps forward in progression towards the final deadline.

Some of the biggest challenges this week was the production of Rent taking up an extremely extensive period of time every night, leading to some nights where I did not return to my dorm until 3 AM. These last few nights have been extremely long, and therefore the project was extremely difficult to keep up with on a daily basis.

Next week should be a bit easier than this week due to fewer productions of Rent happening, and also I should have enough material where I will not be starting over from complete scratch either. The editing process should run much smoother than the process it takes to complete a rough draft because now I have a complete draft with all of the clips and audio all pieced together in a general form of how I would like it to be.

I am nervous about the project still at this point, because the project is compounded with so many things falling together at the same time in the semester. The end of the semester is providing more stress than expected, and there is not enough time in the semester in order for me to be in control of what is going on, or at least that is how it feels.

Open Post to Peer Reviewers

In this blog post, I am going to leave an open post to peer reviewers.

My rough draft can be seen here.

I am still looking of where to cut the clips in order to fit exactly what I need it to do. I have cut a lot of it down, it was originally over 40 minutes long and I have cut it down to under 20, and I am extremely proud of my work there. Take a look at the general ideas that I go through in the video, and possibly take a look at the script to make suggestions. This would be great help, as my ideas are in my opinion the most important.

I definitely need to go through and re-record the narration. There were a lot of difficulties in terms of figuring out how to use Windows Movie Maker, and I am going to go through and heavily edit the form in order to make sure that the video is far more seamless in terms of form. It needs transitions and credits at the very least to start.

I believe that I have enough material in the rough draft to be able to make a successful final draft. I do not think my problem is the lack of having enough material, I am just nervous about the quality of content. If possible, looking at the content and poking holes in where holes can be poked would be extremely helpful. There is much more work that needs to be done in terms of the ideas, and it would be greatly appreciated to have help in this area.

Editorial Report 2

In this blog post, I am going to complete my second editorial report on Project 3.

Selection from Rough Cut

One of the most notable characters that has also suffered mistreatment is the character of Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl. In 1988, in The Killing Joke, Barbara Gordon was shot and paralyzed and was then photographed naked all to try and drive her father insane. This attempt was fruitless and her father made a full mental recovery, while Barbara was left in a wheelchair for over 20 years until 2011 when the series was rebooted, and rewritten to return as Batgirl as written by Gail Simone, the same writer who created Women in Refrigerators in 1999. The character was rewritten as a computer genius and helped heroes in other ways as an information broker, however she was damned to the wheelchair as Batman was able to make a full recovery after his back was broken.

Re-Edited Selection

Seen here, starting at 4:22

The content was not the aspect that changed, however, as the original written words were what were spoken. There are definitely some edits that need to be made in order for the words to flow a lot smoother, however in terms of the ideas they have not changed from the original version. Most of the focus was spent on incorporating the video essay and it's conventions into the current project.

The form has changed drastically. I used different pieces of media in order to change the context of what I was talking about, or add to it. I used television shows, animation and live action, and a recent video game that was released recently. It showed that the issues that were discussed have expanded over a variety of different mediums. I believe that it shows how extensive and well known these issues truly are. 

Editorial Report 1

In this blog post, I am going to compare my rough draft from the rough version from last week.

Selection from Rough Cut

There has been a variety of instances of sexism within the comics, both within the books and in the movies as well. Consistently there are characters like Lois Lane or Mary Jane Watson who are only used as a plot device and as damsels in distress for the hero to save. Very rarely are these women shown to make decisions that are obvious and rational that would ensure that they avoid any sort of trouble. They are written to ignore the obvious circumstances, thus leading to the male hero to save them, or possibly leading to their untimely death.

Re-edited Selection

Seen here, starting at :42

The content did not extensively change from the rough cut to the rough draft, as it was all about placing the rough cut into the form of the video essay. I do believe that the content is being communicated better overall in the video than the script because it places a context around the words that I am saying. It shows that these issues are culturally significant, and have been shown in a variety of different mediums.

The form completely changed in order to better fit the conventions of a video essay. I placed all of the words into audio form, and then supported them with videos as well. I believe that it is displayed far more effectively in this way because the audience is able to maintain full engagement rather than just read all of the words.

Peer Review for Alec Eulano

In this blog post I will go over my peer review for Alec Eulano.

I peer reviewed Alec Eulano's segment from Project 3, which can be seen here. For this segment, I recommended a change in form for Alec's project. I believe I helped him because he was not giving enough thought to the amount of imagery in the section that I peer reviewed. I believe that it is very easy to get trapped in focusing too much on the text within the QRG and therefore forgetting the interactive media and imagery that goes into it as well.

I incorporated my own experience with the QRG as well as focusing on information learned after the grades were returned for Project 1. One of the biggest problems that I faced was that I focused too much on the text, and the imagery became an after-thought and it should mainly be the imagery and interactive media that ensures the project is understood rather than the text itself. I believe I could learn from his focus, as he is very focused on the topic at hand as he focuses on his argument and does not stray too far from stating his opinions and backing them up with facts.

Peer Review for Gabby Dietrich

In this blog post, I will go over the peer review I completed for Gabby Dietrich.

I reviewed Gabby Dietrich's Project 3, which can be seen here. I completed a recommendation about form for Gabby's project. I focused on the problems with the audio throughout the video, and how these problems distracted the audience from the project, despite how minor they were. I believe that I helped them because these minor problems may have gone unnoticed or ignored, and while they are minor, they do create a distraction to the reader that should not be ignored. If she goes about making these edits, she will not have to worry about the audience being distracted.

I incorporated the lecture on podcasts specifically, and how the audience takes such great notice in the quality of audio. The ability to analyze audio in a project like this is something the audience does naturally, and they notice even the smallest of details. Her content however was extremely thorough, and she was able to come off as very knowledgeable on the topic due to the amount of material she used to cover the topic.

Reflection on Production

In this blog post, I will reflect on production week.

This week was very successful in the amount of materials that I was able to gather for this project, as the amount of material that I have for this video essay is absolutely plenty in order to continue on with this project. This is the most material that I have gathered for a project, with the amount of total information that I have being enough to fill multiple video essays. While this will of course be limited down, the amount of flexibility that I have in regards to the form of this work makes this undoubtedly an extremely nice project, as usually form is something that comes later.

I have gone through a few too many unexpected struggles this week, due to other scheduling conflicts that keep me out of my room until 11 every night. Sadly, this is of course because of a class and this week this project had to be pushed on to the back burner. Rent is an extremely time consuming process and while there is a bit of time to work on homework, it is not enough for me to work as much as I would like and getting too involved would be distracting to the task at hand.

However, going into next week, while it will be busy with Rent even moreso, it will not be as bad as this week. This past week I had to come up with the bare foundations of what my project will become. The process of making something out of nothing is extremely difficult, and now that I have something to work with I am optimistic that the next phase of the project will run smoothly.

I am still nervous about this project as a whole, however because of the amount of material that I have I believe that the project if done correctly could become the best one that I have turned in up to this point.

Production Report 2

In this blog post, I will analyze another part of the production process.

Outline Item

I am going to bring up the paralysis and rape of Barbara Gordon and how this situation was ultimately proven to be meaningless as it was a fruitless attempt to drive her father insane, which did not occur.
Adaptation of Outline Item

One of the most notable characters that has also suffered mistreatment is the character of Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl. In 1988, in The Killing Joke, Barbara Gordon was shot and paralyzed and was then photographed naked all to try and drive her father insane. This attempt was fruitless and her father made a full mental recovery, while Barbara was left in a wheelchair for over 20 years until 2011 when the series was rebooted, and rewritten to return as Batgirl as written by Gail Simone, the same writer who created Women in Refrigerators in 1999. The character was rewritten as a computer genius and helped heroes in other ways as an information broker, however she was damned to the wheelchair as Batman was able to make a full recovery after his back was broken.

The clips to support my claims can be seen here.

I decided to use form a little bit differently, as not only are the above clips going to be playing but I am also going to be including images from the original graphic novel as well which shall all play over my above narration. I believe that it is important to not get too caught up in having videos playing all the time, because it allows for the reader to get distracted. Having images allows the reader to look at something and give the voice a bit more power.

The production of this raw material has also been extremely difficult because Windows Movie Maker was proving to be a problem. However I am in the process of learning and with the amount of material I have it shall be plenty for the video that I am desiring to make. This week has started up the production of Rent and it has made completion of this project extremely difficult as I can not come home until 11 at night most nights now.

Production Report 1

In this blog post, I will report on my production progress.

Content Outline

The first section shall about the general sexism that has occurred within the comics. I shall bring up characters such as Lois Lane even into the recent movie being treated as nothing more than a plot device, and even nothing but damsels in distress with little ability to make rational decisions.

Adaptation of Outline Item
There has been a variety of instances of sexism within the comics, both within the books and in the movies as well. Consistently there are characters like Lois Lane or Mary Jane Watson who are only used as a plot device and as damsels in distress for the hero to save. Very rarely are these women shown to make decisions that are obvious and rational that would ensure that they avoid any sort of trouble. They are written to ignore the obvious circumstances, thus leading to the male hero to save them, or possibly leading to their untimely death.

The clips used to illustrate my point can be seen here.

To show form, I have decided to show clips from the movies Spider-Man, Superman, and Man of Steel that illustrate my point where the women are consistently used as nothing else but to save the hero in a time of danger. It will give a visual to what I am trying to say as I narrate over the video. 

It has been difficult to currently figure out Windows Movie Maker, but it is a process that shall improve over the course of this week. However I have a plethora of clips and videos and audio sources in which to use, and once my project is able to fully come together then I do believe that it shall be a successful video essay.

Peer Review for Emily Sutton

In this blog post, I will go over my peer review for Emily Sutton.

I peer reviewed the content outline for Emily Sutton's Project 3. The content outline can be seen here. For the content outline, I decided that an outlining suggestion was again the most appropriate for this phase of the project. I believe that I helped Emily with her project because she did not focus too much on how she is going to incorporate the different conventions of what a video essay is. There was very little emphasis on the more creative aspects that came along with making a project in video essay format. She will now be able to take the conventions into account while going into production week.

I took the lecture on the conventions of all of the projects and in this case, specifically the video essay. I focused on the fact that many of these conventions are used in order to ensure that the audience is engaged throughout the work, and that there is a certain amount of entertainment value that will get the audience to desire to watch the project, in this specific case. It was mostly a focus on form, and what the form of a video essay can do to the audience.

I found her use rhetorical strategies extremely admirable and something that I will definitely incorporate into my own work as the process continues. I believe that it is important to go into this next phase of the project knowing exactly what strategies I am using and why I am deciding to use them, especially since my argument is unconventional as well.

Peer Review for Fernando Coronado

In this blog post, I will detail my peer review for Fernando Coronado.

I reviewed the content outline for Fernando Coronado's project, which can be seen here. In this case, I selected the outlining suggestion for his content outline. I helped point out that while Fernando's outline is in fact a good basic format for an outline and what an outline should be in terms of organization and easiness to read, he does not specify his own project in the outline itself. If he takes my advice and incorporates his own ideas for the project into the outline, then he will be able to effectively move forward into production week with a strong idea of what he wants to do.

In this case, I incorporated talks from class on what an outline is based on activities of us outlining projects like with the cereal box. The information was basic enough and was not a complete project, however the information was specific and an individual would be able to move forward and make a project based off the outline we created.

I believe that I could learn from their level of organization that they were able to have for their content outline. They were extremely organized in how they set up their content outline and it was very easy to read, and my content outline would greatly benefit from that level of organization that Fernando has in his outline.

Reflection on Pre-Production

In this blog post, I will reflect on pre-production.

Some of the successes that occurred this week was that I was able to jump into the project with a solidified idea when I did jump into the project. I decided very quickly that I was extremely interested in comics and came up with a topic right away and began researching and brain storming. This brain storming process that I wrote down in my journal definitely helped when it came to what is incorporated into my project. For example, the instance of Kitty Pryde using racist language was something that I learned during my brainstorming process and it became a key piece of evidence in one of my sections of the project.

Some of the challenges this week was due to my inability to effectively time manage myself. This week was extremely rough as I had 6 papers due for my Acting class and I was not done with them until I turned them in late Wednesday night. I also have started to crew Rent and that is going to take up a lot of my nights until late. I was not able to dedicate enough time to this class as I would have liked to. Therefore much of the English process was pushed back until the last minute, and with the amount of work required this week it made life more difficult then it needed to be as much of it took place on Sunday, and with some portions taking place on Saturday.

I think next week should be better simply because I will not allow this week to repeat itself. There will not be as much homework due in my other classes so the pressure shall not be as high as it was this past week. Also I will begin working on English throughout the week and therefore Project 3 should be heading along on schedule as I do bits and pieces of work everyday rather than waiting until the end of the week to try and do as much as I can.

I feel confident about the content of the project, however I am extremely nervous about the form of this project. I have never worked in video essay format before and while I have a lot of ideas I am unsure of my ability to do everything that I would like to do because I am so unfamiliar with the genre and I am not sure the project is going to turn out just the way that I would like it to.

Production Schedule

In this blog post, I will outline the production schedule for Project 3.

• On April 4th: Download iMovie 
• On April 4th: Begin looking for possible video and audio examples that could be used for the project
• Specifically clips from:
•  The Killing Joke, Man of Steel, Fantastic Four, Suicide Squad, Batman: The Animated Series or Batman The New Adventures
• On April 5th: Decide on what resource the video is going to be recorded 
• Webcam or Video Camera
• On April 5th: Begin work on script for Project 3
• On April 6th: Get all necessary resources together in order to film
• Webcam or video camera
• Clips from: 
• The Killing Joke, Man of Steel, Fantastic Four, Suicide Squad, Batman: The Animated Series or Batman The New Adventures
• By April 8th: Finish whatever filming that will need to take place
• Use dorm or area around dorm. Possibly the area around the theatre building. 
• On April 8th: Begin the editing process
• Start earlier in the day as I am unfamiliar with iMovie
• On April 9th: Finish the editing process for the rough draft of Project 3

Content Outline

In this blog post, I will go on to outline Project 3.

Comics, throughout their history, have been significantly both racist and sexist from both the comic books themselves to the movies that have come out in recent years. While there are specific instances where women and minorities have been treated with a level of respect and admiration, there are also a consistently high amount of instances where they have been mistreated. I plan to grab the reader's attention by either playing a recording from a popular comic book movie or, possibly having a well recorded motion comic play to start off the video essay.

The first section shall about the general sexism that has occurred within the comics. I shall bring up characters such as Lois Lane even into the recent movie being treated as nothing more than a plot device, and even nothing but damsels in distress with little ability to make rational decisions. I shall also bring up the instances of Women In Refrigerators, where countless female characters have been sacrificed to further the storyline of a male character. This proves that women have been mistreated, especially in direct comparison to their male counterparts. This is important because while there are instances of  women having their fair representation, these instances are vastly outnumbered.

The second section shall go into more detail and discuss the amount of rape and rape culture that has occurred and been perpetuated within comics. I am going to bring up the paralysis and rape of Barbara Gordon and how this situation was ultimately proven to be meaningless as it was a fruitless attempt to drive her father insane, which did not occur. I shall also go into the recent drawing contest from DC Comics where the company asked for drawers to draw Harley Quinn in a sexually explicit situation about to commit suicide in a bathtub. This proves that comic book industries view rape as something that could be used for entertainment purposes, and not focus on the point or problems that result. This is important because rape has been used as nothing but a meaningless tool, and thus spreads rape culture.

The last section shall go into the racism that has occurred within comics. I shall go into Kitty Pryde around the time of the Civil Rights movement calling an African American the n-word in a comic panel. I shall also going into the reaction of Michael B. Jordan as the casting of the Human Torch and the outrage from the public. This will prove that not only is the industry also had it's history of racism but even in today's society the racism has affected the readership and influenced their thinking into the outrage they feel over a casting of a movie. This is important because it is starting to affect society and how people are thinking and what they believe is okay and not okay, and comics influencing morals in a negative way like this is unacceptable.

I shall then close off the video essay where I go on to say that something must be done to change the current state of comics. Specifically there needs to be more female writers being given the chance to work with female characters. This is on a larger scale is yet another instance of sexism, rape culture, and racism being allowed to permeate throughout society and this can not be allowed to continue. Many young adults and even children are exposed to this work and it is important that these people are able to grow up and be led by a good example.

Research Report

In this blog post, I will analyze the sources that I am going to use for Project 3.

1. CNN
2. The Huffington Post
3. MSNBC
4. The New York Times
5. Comic Vine
6. Women In Refrigerators
7. Logo
8. The Killing Joke
9. VH1
10. Daily Dot

CNN

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "Comics that caused controversy" written by Henry Hanks on CNN. 
• Author: Henry Hanks works at CNN and is hired to publish articles from all the different areas of the website on CNN Digital, thus being allowed to have a broad focus where his opinion can be given on matters. He also graduated from Berry College, where he majored in Communication before getting his job at CNN.
• Target Audience: The target audience is those that are interested in comics that however are not fully influenced by the actual source material. For example, most people who are familiar with the comics are aware that Spider-Man was turned into a half-Latino, half-black teenager. Also, many would be aware that the second Robin was murdered by the Joker after fans called to vote in his fate. However, many who are purely interested in the genre from the mainstream media such as the movies would not be aware of these details. 
• Purpose: The purpose of this is to educate the general public on the basics of what has occurred in comic book history. This can be seen in that CNN is a major news corporation and their target is to reach as many of the population as possible, and therefore the audience is more broad than just those who read the comic books. Also, Hanks citing basic comics like "The Death of Gwen Stacy" in reference to a controversy shows that he is speaking to an audience that may be familiar with Gwen Stacy after The Amazing Spider-Man films, but would not understand her comic significance.
• Important Contextual Details: Henry Hanks on his public Facebook page has many references to  comic books, and it is shown that he understands the world of comics based off of these references such as his cover photo for example. Another important detail is that while Hanks publishes a variety of articles, when a comic article is written for CNN, he is the ideal candidate to write the article from Spider-Woman to Wonder Woman.

Huffington Post

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "'Fox & Friends' Thinks The New Captain America Hates Them" written by Todd Van Luling for The Huffington Post. 
• Author: Todd Van Luling is a Senior Staff Writer for The Huffington Post, and therefore has written many stories for them before and has been given promotions after starting as an Associate Editor for his good work while working for the Post. He also earned an English degree from William and Mary as well, and therefore is very well educated and fully prepared on how to write and edit articles in news. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is aimed to an older audience that grew up understanding the concept of Captain America, and the symbolism of what Captain America represented. This can be seen from the opening hook, where he relates to the audience making the comparison between Captain America and Fox News and noting their apparent similarities rather than their differences. He also quoted the history of Captain America, and how it was originally used as another form of patriotic expression during WWII. The audience is expected both understand these similarities and understand the previous history of the character. Therefore it is likely that this audience is designated to be older. 
• Purpose: The purpose of the article is to inform the audience of the recent altercation that Fox News had with Marvel Comics over the character of Captain America, and give their own bias about what had occurred in an effort to influence the reader to believe the same. This can be seen through the scathing remarks such as designating the reporter as a "'comic' expert". Also the author left the article off with a question to the audience to ponder with about whether the problem currently with America is really the lack of violence as it appears in history. 
• Important Contextual Details: Todd Van Luling according to his LinkedIn has had a very long history of understanding the different forms of film, and therefore has been able to see the new trend in comic book movies through a professional lense. Also for the Huffington Post he has consistently written articles about comic book films, and therefore has exposure and understanding to the recent trend of comics as well. 

MSNBC

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "Taking on India's rape culture - with comics" reported by Tony Dokoupil for MSNBC.
• Author: He is a national reporter for MSNBC, and reports not only to a certain area but the entire country as a whole. He has a great amount of experience in order to be able to write and do the story, and exceptionally well at that. He also received his masters in American Studies from Columbia, and therefore is fully aware of different issues that effect society today, specifically in this case: rape culture.
• Target Audience: The target audience, especially for such a highly experienced individual in such a public forum, is more liberal viewers all over the country. Specifically, more feminist voters. This can be seen right from the title of the article, as many liberal women are highly concerned with rape culture. Those with conservative beliefs would be less likely to care about such topics, as many question the existence of the culture itself. Another point that can be seen is that it is an article for MSNBC, which is renowned for their liberal bias as opposed to other news sources, as they feature political pundits such as Rachel Maddow rather than Bill O'Reilly. 
• Purpose: The purpose of the article is to highlight how individuals in other countries are dealing with the concept of rape culture, and offering possible solutions to the problem. This can be seen as the video itself focuses on the culture of India, and how the people in the country deal with most problems that they face. It also contextualized the solution and offers the possible solution as a solution to rape culture in this country as well, especially because of the context it gives to how America has updated the technology within the comics. 
• Important Contextual Details: The comic book features a survivor of rape as it's main heroine, and therefore it directly shows the challenges and overcoming of adversity that rape victims go through. It is also based off of a story that legitimately took place, as the author of the play took part in a protest where the victim of a local rape was blamed for walking out at night rather than the rapist being blamed. This rape culture and victim blaming inspired the comic book, and therefore is a direct correlation from the problem to the possible solution. 

The New York Times

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "That Oxymoron, the Asian Comic Superhero" written by Umapagan Ampikaipakan for The New York Times.
• Author: The author is an activist that works in all different forms of mediums where he attempts to raise awareness for minorities. He has earned 2 degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of New South Wales, and is therefore very educated from a variety of different backgrounds. He also is known as a media mole, where he is able to incorporate into a variety of different mediums from radio to television where he is spreading his message to the people. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is those who read comics, and are very conscious about the political and moral messages that are prescribed by these comics as well. This can be seen in that the direct references to comics that are foreign and based off the ideas of the local area, for example a Muslim woman going through the struggles in comics. It can also be seen in the direct references to both popular and unknown comics, and the audience is expected to understand the references to comics without an explanation for context. 
• Purpose: The purpose is to state that multiculturalism is unimportant in the comic book world. This can be seen in that he does not agree fully with why there is such an emphasis for diversity in recent years from Marvel and DC comics. He also goes on to state that while he was practicing a variety of different cultures, he was still able to look up to Spider-Man and desire to be Spider-Man despite the cultural differences between the author and Spider-Man as well.  
• Important Contextual Details: He also states that he understands why that people are pushing for diversity in comic books, however he believes that the message of the comics are universal and therefore the skin tone of those within the comic books is irrelevant. He also has been a part of TED as well, which shows that while his ideas are a bit more controversial than usual, he is taking seriously within the community and he is able to show intelligence and care in his ideas.

Comic Vine

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "Why can't the strong females have their own movies?" for Comic Vine, which is a discussion post started by user ThunderKong and discussed by the community from the time of 3 years ago and brought up recently to the present. 
• Author: The author of the article is no longer an active member of the website, and therefore his specific contributions to any part of the field can not be analyzed. However, every post is written by a different member of the community. These members are all very well informed in comics, and have consistent debates based off made-up circumstances to discussing what is occurring in very specific characters through the forums. They also are all well informed of the most recent issues that have occurred in the comics through use of articles published on the home page. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is those that are extremely interested in comics and up to date on what are the most current comics occurring. This can be seen in that most people who use the site are users and have accounts on the site, and are therefore consistently exposed to different and new aspects that comics provide. Also in order to be able to post, it is necessary for the user to have an account as well, thus encouraging the expansion of the audience as well.
• Purpose: The purpose is to communicate different ideas about the world of comics among fellow lovers of the genre, in this particular instance discussing whether or not female characters are able to have a successful movie, specifically in the action genre. They discuss various instances where female heroes did have their own movie and the outcome of what that meant. Also they discussed recent developments such as within the new DC movies that have been released, and what these movies are going to mean for the future of female heroines. 
• Important Contextual Details: This is not a website where everyone is able to list out their professional credentials, as it is simply a website full of enthusiasts and fans. They are not able to have the same credentials that a professional journalist talking about this issue would. However, these are the audience members that are directly effected by what occurs within comics and have the most personal stake in the issues that occur here. They are not the target audience for my project, however they would have a very big opinion on what my project means.

Women In Refrigerators

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "The List" for Women In Refrigerators, written by Gail Simone.
• Author: The author is Gail Simone is a comic book writer, who specifically deals with many different female heroines in the DC Universe such as Batgirl and The Birds of Prey. Gail Simone has over 15 years working professionally as a writer, specifically within the comic book companies Marvel and DC, which are the two most famous and popular comic book companies. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is comic book enthusiasts who also happen to be feminists, or feminists that are outraged by how women have been treated within comics as well. This can be seen by the blunt list where Gail goes on to list off women who have been mistreated as a plot device, with most of the characters followed by a scathing description of what occurred to them. This is used to incite anger on the part of the audience, at the thought of how women have been portrayed as nothing but plot devices to be victimized. Also the list of respondents shows those who are interested in these ideas what has been going on within the industry and what is being done to fix these problems.
• Purpose: The purpose of Women In Refrigerators is to educate those who are interested on the problems that are within the comic industry. This can be seen as the author herself being a very prominent figure within the comic industry, and therefore is an extremely professional opinion coming out and voicing her concerns of what has occurred and what can be done to fix it. Also the responses as well show the website being used as a direct way to solve the problem as well. 
• Important Contextual Details: Gail Simone as the author has gone about addressing the problem and fixing it herself as well. She worked on The Birds of Prey where she was able to take the character of Barbara Gordon who had been paralyzed and raped as a plot device and wrote the character as a source of all information operating in her wheel chair. Also, after DC was rebooted, Barbara Gordon was rewritten and returned as Batgirl, thus putting the best fix possible on that character. 

Logo

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "Perry Moore asks, 'Who cares about the death of a gay superhero anyway?'" written by Lyle Masaki for Logo. 
• Author: There is not much information that can be focused on within the life of Lyle Masaki, as they do not have a major presence on social media as the other authors of other sources do and therefore their credibility is more difficult to gauge. However, they consistently write about recent television shows, and also have written other articles that focus on how homosexuals are represented within the media, highlighting his interest in the area.
• Target Audience: The website is designated for younger readers such as teenagers, and this can be seen obviously in 2 ways. The article itself directly correlates with media and how homosexuality is tolerated, something that the millennials and the youth are overwhelmingly concerned about and desire change for to allow for more equality as the article suggests. Also the website features many articles featuring recent music awards and results, similar to a website like MTV.
• Purpose: The purpose of the article is to try and get the younger audience to want equal and respectable representation within comics. This can be seen by the lists that he made and also by the ending questions to the audience, both leading to inciting aggressive emotions in the audience. They hope to use it as a call to action for the audience to go out and demand change.
• Important Contextual Details: The website is not a very reliable source in terms of news. Most of the article cites another list previously written by Perry Moore where he listed off characters that were both homosexual and treated terribly. They also did not handle this article as a source and was more of a regurgitation of Moore published for a different audience, especially because the story will fit their target audience. 

The Killing Joke

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "The Killing Joke", written by Alan Moore for the general comic book community, as it was published as a graphic novel rather than a legitimate article for a news source. 
• Author: Alan Moore is a graphic novel writer, and is known to be one of the greatest graphic novel writers in the genre. He has written other pieces such as Watchmen and V for Vendetta, which were both adapted into popular movies. He is therefore extremely influential, and his work has been revered as some of the most important in a character's history. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is for a much more adult audience, as the themes addressed in his work are able to be addressed on a college level an examined due to their level of influence. Also the events that take place in the work are extremely dark and violent, with the paralysis and rape of a staple character occurring nearly halfway through the graphic novel. 
• Purpose: The purpose is out of pure entertainment to the more adult readers that would be interested in this level of darker work. The themes within The Killing Joke do not truly relate to that of a serious topic outside of the work, it was simply meant for the audience to take in and enjoy, and it was commercially and critically successful in this purpose as well.
• Important Contextual Details: The Killing Joke according to many, including famous actors such as Mark Hamill, is the best story featuring the Joker that has ever been told. It is meant to be extremely dark and graphic, and changed the history of Batman comics up until the relaunch where everything was restarted fresh and new. 

VH1

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "Michael B. Jordan, Fantastic Four, and the Racial Ignorance that Just Won't Die" written by Celeste Durvey for VH1. 
• Author: Celeste Durvey works as an author, and was therefore a member of the general audience and was able to see what the audience saw in the casting of Jordan as the Human Torch. She also does not have much history in terms of what she has published previously to this, and does not work for VH1 as a employee. However, this only means that she was not biased by any other opinion and was able to take the position member of an outsider and have it published in the work it was consumed for. 
• Target Audience: The audience is that of a younger audience who was exposed to the casting of Michael B. Jordan, and may have been on the social media sites voicing their opinion one way or the other. This can be seen in the VH1 website, where it is very apparent that their goals are similar to that of Logo or MTV, where they are working to publish gossip-like material that the younger audience will click on and read. Also the article itself has many different references to reactions on Twitter, which also shows that they are going for a younger demographic that will relate. 
• Purpose: The purpose is to note all of the bigotry surrounding the casting of Jordan and calling it out for what it is. Much of her article is hyperlinking to another source, where they go on to summarize the bigotry that even Jimmy Kimmel was showing Jordan in regards to this casting. She then goes on to call out all of these posts as nothing but racial ignorance over a fictional character, and that this bigotry must be put to an end.
• Important Contextual Details: The author does not highlight her professional credibility, linking us to her Twitter where she does not have the ideal profile picture or description to show off a professional author. Also VH1 is not the most credible news site as evidenced by their website, and the content published in that website is not meant for hard news and is simply meant as "click bait" for teenagers. However, this does not render the points raised in the article invalid. 

Daily Dot

• Title/Author/Host: The title is "DC Comics asks artists to show their skill at killing off naked woman" written by Aja Romano for Daily Dot. 
• Author: Aja Romano works as a reporter for the Daily Dot where she explores geek culture and fandom and helps navigate them and reports back to those interested in various sites on a way in which to operate in different mediums. She also has earned a degree from Indiana University, Bloomington showing that she is not only a random individual who writes occasionally but has also been educated as well. 
• Target Audience: The target audience is specifically those interested in comics, as well as those who would be outraged at the rape culture that persists within the company, DC. This can be seen as the article was published under fandom, where many users go to learn about different things that may be considered geeky but they are passionate about. Also the headline alone grabs the readers attention and acts as a hook for itself, ensuring that the audience click the link and learn more as it almost seems too unbelievable. 
• Purpose: The purpose of the article is to ensure that those who read this article are well informed and take action to ensure such events do not happen again. It highlighted various aspects of those promising to boycott anything from DC Comics after what had occurred. It also highlighted that this has happened at DC before as the writers of Batwoman left the project after the creators refused to let the lesbian lead marry her fiance. 
• Important Contextual Details: DC Comics did apologize for the work, and did state that the drawing was taken out of context. Also, those at DC did not intentionally mean for any harm to legitimately come to the character and the panel was purely satirical. 

Rhetorical Analysis of Project 3

In this blog post, I will analyze the rhetorical situation for Project 3.

Author. How will you draw on any or some of the following for Project 3? Be specific about how your plans for Project 3 connect to some previous, current or burgeoning interest of your own, such as... your own general research interests. I am expressly interested in comic book and the world that it offers, and how comics can be used to address issues that society is currently facing. Also, I just find them extremely entertaining in their own right. your major(s) and/or minor(s) here at the University of Arizona. I am a Theatre Arts major here at the University of Arizona. other subjects of interest you have encountered here or elsewhere in your recent studies. I have decided to run with a personal hobby of mine rather than focus on any sort of specific, major focus. your academic and/or professional goals. My goals are to go in and pursue a career in theatre or acting or performing in any possible way, no matter the circumstance. current-day social, cultural or political issues that you follow and are interested in. I am currently following the current election very closely. I am very interested in the potential voter fraud in Arizona that won Hillary the election, and on the hatred within the Donald Trump campaign. civic, financial, governmental, economic, and/or judicial practices that you follow and are interested in. Very interested in the college debt problem, and the solution that Bernie Sanders offers to make public universities tuition free, and the reaction that the public has to this idea. scientific and/or technological advances or news stories that you follow and and are interested in. I am not interested in science or recent technological advances enough to be able to take a hard stance on for a public argument. subjects of personal interest or study, for instance: hobbies such as hiking & climbing, gaming/programming, following sports or movies or music, etc. I have decided to focus this project on my hobbies, specifically my interest with comic books. skills you have committed yourself to acquiring like dedication to a sport, an instrument, a practice such as yoga or meditation, etc. I have committed myself to the craft of theatre, and working within the field of theatre in as many different parts of possible. subjects you’ve read about previously in science or history or literature, etc. I spent quite a bit of reading last semester regarding genetic engineering, and the possibilities of what that means to the society if it were to be fully embraced, specifically within the science fiction genre. subjects connected to your life experiences, places you’ve traveled to, ideologies or philosophies you’ve encountered directly, unique experiences you’ve had. I have learned a lot in this semester's philosophy class, where I have been learning about a variety of different individual philosophies and how philosophy applies to the society.        2.     What are the preconceptions, previously held opinions and/or potential areas for                personal bias that you should be aware of for Project 3? What about any of the                following?: Your family of origin, and the spoken or unspoken set(s) of “family values” that come with belonging to that family. My family is not at all religious or political, and the beliefs that I have come up with have been formed throughout my life without the input of my family. I have never consistently gone to any sort of church, have no desire to, and am very proud of my liberal beliefs but my family did not influence me too far in that direction other than encouraging tolerance of other people. The social class of yourself/your family (consider honestly your family’s level of access to wealth, real estate, travel, leisure, luxury items, etc.). My mother works at Walmart for a living and she is the only source of income as my father volunteers locally and my brother works to support himself. My access to these things is extremely limited. The location/geography where you were raised, and whatever local norms, customs, attitudes, traditions, and/or prejudices come with belonging or not belonging. I was born in The Hamptons and was surrounded by people who did not have to worry about money or any sort of monetary problems. If there was a prejudice against anyone it was against those who were unable to get money The religious and/or spiritual tradition you were raised in, and whatever beliefs, values, worldviews and/or prejudices come with belonging or not belonging. I was not raised in any religious tradition. The political beliefs of the family, community, area/region or state in which you were raised, and whatever attitudes, beliefs, traditions, values and/or prejudices come with belonging or not belonging. I was raised in New York and it is extremely a Democratic place, which may have helped contribute to my current political beliefs. Your level of access to cultural power, based on things like ethnicity/race, gender, sexual identity, age, level of education, differently-abledness, etc. I am a white, straight male at University. By this definition I would say that privilege is rather high. Unsure if this is the correct answer to the question.

Audience. Based on your plans for Project 3, answer the following… How are you thinking about your audience for this project? Who are you going to make this for? Describe them. I am making this for an audience that is not fully aware of comics other than what they are exposed to in popular culture. For example, they know that The Dark Knight is a good movie and Catwoman is a bad movie. However they may not be aware that in the comics there are 4 Robins and that the original and most notable Batgirl was shot and raped by the Joker. What beliefs and assumptions might this audience already hold? What position are they likely to take on this issue? How will you respond to that position? I believe that they may not be fully aware of the scope of the problem that I am going to describe. However I believe that they may respond mostly on my side, if there are any that disagree they will probably react protective of characters like Wonder Woman. How might they react to your argument? I believe that they will react for the most part shocked with the level of problems within the medium, and also may react protective and ignore the facts of what has occurred. How are you going to relate to or connect with your audience? Are there any specific words, ideas or ways of arguing that will help you relate to them in this way? I understand the position of those that disagree with the point that I am trying to make. Think of one specific person or a set of people you know personally or professionally who fall within the definition of ‘target audience’ you’re using for Project 3. What could you tell them or say to them in order to convince them of your perspective? What would need to happen for them to agree with you? I believe that most teenagers in today's society fall into the target audience of basic knowledge of comic books. I could bring specific instances with situations or characters they are familiar with. If I am able to show the plethora of sexism and racism as opposed to the amount of progressive instances they may come to see things from my point of view.

Purpose/Message. What do you want to accomplish with Project 3? What affect do you want it to have on your intended audience? For instance: What might you want your audience to do after reading/watching/listening to my project? I would want them to go back to the medium and look at all of the different publications from the comics themselves to the movies and note all of the instances in how women and minority characters are handled. What might you want your audience to consider after reading/watching/ listening to your project? I would want them to consider all of the negativity that comes with these moments and to consider them against the positives and decide for themselves. What might you want your audience to believe after reading/watching/ listening to your project? I want them to believe that the comic industry has a long way to go before women and minorities are truly accepted into the industry       2.    Once you’ve done all your research and figured out what you think about the              controversy you’ve chosen, what still needs to be accomplished? For instance: Is there anything that still needs to be explained or pointed out to the people talking about this issue? What is a solution to the problem for a main point. There are many who believe that what I am discussing is a problem, but talking about the problem is not solving the problem. Is there anything that the people arguing about this need to be reminded of or made aware of? Talking about problems is not fixing anything, change must take place. Are there any perspectives on the issue that still need to be expressed? I believe that the issue has been well discussed, but I think these two problems need to be condensed into one argument and a solution needs to be offered. Are there any persons who we still need to hear from? I believe those within the industry deserve a loud voice in this argument. Is there any information that we still need to gather? I believe that information on what has been done on a professional level needs to be combined with the opinions of the audience receiving the information.

Context. What are the particular circumstances surrounding this assignment?

What genre? What course genre will you be writing in for Project 3? I will be doing a video essay. What kinds of audience expectations come along with this genre, generally? People expect there to be instances of different forms of audio, videos, and pictures throughout the project. What is your history working in the genre you have selected for Project 3? I do not have any experience going into this project. Describe your comfort level and general feelings about the genre. How will they affect your work on Project 3? I am extremely uncomfortable going into this genre and am very nervous about how I am going to be able to pull off using this genre to effectively do what I need it do. What are the two most effective conventions in this genre, in your opinion? Why? Be specific. I believe that using actual video recording from another source while incorporating audio from something other than my own voice is going to be the most effective. They will be able to effectively engage the audience.

When? Are there any historical events that might impact how your audience perceives your argument or the kind of background information or evidence you need to include? For instance, does media reporting on any of the following involve your issue/subject for Project 3?: There are not historically significant events the influence comic books and the specific issue that I am trying to address. There is no governmental influence on this issue. The approval or rejections of laws and/or budgets by the Executive branch of the U.S. government. There is no governmental influence on this issue. Cabinet appointments and removals made by the Executive branch of the U.S. government. There is no governmental influence on this issue. The authorization or funding of military hostilities by the Executive branch of the U.S. government. There is no governmental influence on this issue. The writing of, discussion about and voting on laws and/or budgets in the Legislative branch of the U.S. government. There is no governmental influence on this issue. The explanations made for legal decisions in the Judicial branch of the U.S. government. There is no governmental influence on this issue.        2.    Who else is talking about this topic? Provide us with working hyperlinks to coverage of the controversy on FOUR different media outlets. Here is CNN, the Huffington Post, MSNBC, and the New York Times.        3.    What are the three or four major counter-arguments you’ll have to respond to, based upon what people are saying in the press/media? Be specific and cite your sources using working hyperlinks. CNN specifically spoke about controversial comics that have been published in recent history. They bring up a very interesting point when they mention Wonder Woman and Superman beginning a relationship, effectively ending the idea of Wonder Woman being a strong independent female. This is a strong point that I can go back to when in the process of the project. The Huffington Post brings up the differences in terms of ideologies between those that are at Fox News and Captain America and argues that politics should be kept out of comics, a counter-argument that I will have to counter back. MSNBC brings up an instance of comics being used to fight rape culture in India, which is a counter-argument that I am going to have to deal with as well. The New York Times makes the argument that race does not matter in comics as the message is universal despite the skin tone, another counter-argument that I am going to have to deal with.