Multi-modal/Multi-genre Projects

Today: Make sure you uploaded your Peer Review Evaluation for P2 to Canvas by tonight before 11:59 pm.

As stated Monday, Project 3 is the composition of a Multi-Modal/Multi-Genre project. Make sure you have read Tuesday's post regarding the Rules about Project #3.

What is the purpose of composing a message in more than one mode or genre?

• It broadens your audience: People who have less time to watch a video might be inclined to read an article.

• It furthers your purpose: You may be able to be more detailed in some modes than in others. Also, consider anytime you may have watched a documentary and felt motivated to wikipedia the subject matter to learn more? Or watched a movie then decided to read the book it was based on?

• Make all the rhetorical appeals work for you

You have a brand. Your Wix page is an product of that brand. The papers you have written for this class represents that brand. Here is a person who has a brand and uses multi-modal projects in order to promote his brand.

Austin Kleon is an artist. He has written the book Steal Like an Artist, which encourages creativity and making things through remix and assemblage. His brand is creativity.

Something to note about this artist is that all of his materials are consistent. He creates blackout poems, which uses newsprint and Sharpie. Because of that, all of Kleon's style and design choices are meant to resemble these materials. The font for his logo looks like it was written in Sharpie marker. His color scheme is black and white with accents of Sharpie red or bright yellow (like a highlighter).

Kleon creates projects in different modes: text based, visual, audio/visual. However, he uses the same material for each mode. Read this post on his webpage about Bob Ross and his mentor Bill Alexander.

Now watch the video:

Note how Kleon is utilizing the exact same material. If he is not doing anything new, why bother making a text-based mode AND an audio-visual mode?

Because not everyone has time to read an article. Not everyone has time (or is in the appropriate space) to watch a video. He is making sure his audience can access his material easily.

Note: Kleon is not conducting extensive primary research. He did not interview either Bob Ross or Bill Alexander in order to create these modes. He did not film any of the segments he sampled for his video. He is using information which could have easily been assembled from You Tube or Wikipedia to create new products.

This is called Assemblage.

Assemblage is about creating something new from things which exist. Here is an example of an accidental assemblage. In my vehicle, a magical merging of a Georgia Voter sticker and a skeleton sticker created a new composition: DEMON PLANT!

MonsterPlant1

MonsterPlant

The act of assemblage is also known as Remix. You may be most familiar with this in the audio mode through music.

This video is from Girl Talk. This artist only composes through samples. In the below video, you will see the original albums from which this artist samples. Not only does this artist use samples, but overlays the samples for certain beats, riffs and lyrics. (This song contains explicit language and content.)

If you choose to create an assemblage for your Project #3 mode, be sure to avoid the obviously litigious corporations. Because all of your modes will be composed for educational purposes, they qualify for Fair Use. However, certain corporate brands are sensitive to their products being used without their permission, such as Disney, the Simpsons and Kanye West. In the past a student used a Kanye West song for a podcast he composed and, as a result, his audio mode was kicked off SoundCloud.

Currently on Canvas are three articles about layout and design for Visual Mode projects. These will give guidance and suggestions for complimentary color schemes as well as image placements. In the past students have had success with Canva for their visual modes. This is NOT a 100% free service. Some designs cost money. I do not want anyone in our class to feel compelled to spend money on any projects. MAKE SURE YOU SELECT A FREE DESIGN. Be certain. You do not want to design something only to not be able to distribute it to your audience.

Don't Forget these are DUE FRIDAY 11/3:

• Short Assignment #1: Use the Potential Genres/Modes Proposal Guide. I will respond and provide Feedback on these as soon as I can in order for you to begin building as soon as possible. Genres must be built by WEDNESDAY 11/8

• Wix post on Visual Rhetoric: Look at the designs on this Buzzfeed Article. Select a design and explain why it appeals to you VISUALLY. What choices did the composer make in order to be consistent with its message, compel to viewer to look closer and inspire one to share with others.

• Reflection on P2. Posted on Wix P2 page (Not Canvas) What did you learn from the process of writing the draft, the act of receiving feedback, and your plans for revision this time which was different from Project #1