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Anyone Can Remix!

The Relevance of the Remix in the Composition Classroom

Lisa A. Curtin ENGL 106 Instructor

Purdue Writing Showcase April 12, 2012

Why are remixes important?

I think that its important, in the ENGL 106 classroom, to teach students to compose in ways relevant to their lives. REMIXES ARE EVERYWHERE, from YouTube parody trailers to hit songs on WAZY, from Pride & Prejudice & Zombies to 10 Things I Hate About You. Using the Everything is a Remix web series, I demonstrate to students that remixing isnt just occurring in pop culture, but that the processes of research and design (very relevant to my classroom full of engineering and business majors) are also forms of remixing in their own rightall research and design has to build itself out of pre-existing research and design.

How do we remix?
To teach my students that REMIXING IS FOR EVERYONE, I have them remediate a previous project into a movie poster and concept. This gives students the chance to think critically and creatively about how to successfully translate a written text or pamphlet into a more visual medium. This project addresses concepts like context in rhetorical situation, audience consideration, and visual rhetoric. To further reinforce the importance of remixing, my students complete in-class projects, have discussions about major remixing concepts and issues, and read articles about remixing and rhetoric.

UNIT FOUR PROJECT: Rhetorical Situation

We have reached the end of our journeyweve moved from literacy to discourse communities in general to our own areas of academic discourse in particular. We are now discussing rhetorical situationevery situation is a rhetorical situation! We are going to use the rhetorical skills we have developed as readers and writers to remediate one of our previous projects into a new medium. MISSION&STATEMENT:&By#remediating#one#of#our#previous#projects# into#a#new#medium#(movie#poster#&#concept),#we#will#change#that# texts#rhetorical#situation.#In#our#increasingly#visual# culture,#we#often#find#ourselves#subjected#to#visual#rhetoric# as#well#as#written/spoken#rhetoric.#This#project#will#help#us# to#understand#the#visual#rhetorical#moves#we#encounter#every# day.& Scenario: For this project, imagine that you are a filmmaker. You will choose one of your previous projects to remediate into a movie concept and poster. During the last week of class, we will hold informal presentations of our concepts and posters and then have a class Oscars. Requirements: This assignment requires that you remediate a previous project of your choosing into a movie concept and poster. You will create a movie title, movie tagline, and basic plot summary (2-3 paragraphs) for your project. You will establish a genre, rating, and target audience. (Thats a big part of rhetorical situation.) For this project, you may feel free to fictionalize/change your project to some degree in order to make it into something that could be a movie. The link between your original project and the movie should be clear, but remediate away! We will be discussing visual rhetoric (remember this from our discourse community project?) in relation to movie posters for this project, so your poster needs to show evidence of your understanding of visual rhetoric principles. We will spend some time in class learning the basics of Photoshop to complete the poster part of this project. If you would prefer to create your poster using another program or by hand thats fine, but you MUST talk to me or email me with an explanation for your preference. (Grade breakdown: written portion of project worth 100 points, poster worth 50 points.) Key Resources: Your previous projects, 7 Elements of a Great Movie Poster Design, OWL visual rhetoric resources, Writing About Writing chapter 1 Disclaimer: Please be aware that this is not art class and therefore I will not be judging you harshly on your level of creative or artistic skill. If you are concerned about the quality of your poster, you may write a 1-2 page reflection explaining the visual rhetoric choices you attempted to make and why.

Project Guidelines

Grading Rubric for Project 4: Rhetorical Situation (Visual Rhetoric & Remediation) (150 points)
POSTER Visual Rhetoric (50 points) A Project demonstrates a strong use of the principles of visual rhetoric. Project has a clearly defined genre, a wellthought out title (and tagline), and employs conventions of movie poster design to engage an audience. A Summary indicates that your remediation choices have been clearly and creatively thought out. Project has a genre and rating that have been clearly thought out and an audience that has been specifically addressed. B Project demonstrates an effective use of the principles of visual rhetoric. Project has an easily discernible genre, an effective title (and tagline), and uses movie poster conventions. B Summary demonstrates that the remediation choices have been made with some careful thought. Project shows thoughtful consideration of genre, rating, and target audience. C Project demonstrates a basic use of the principles of visual rhetoric. Project demonstrates an attempt to establish a genre, has a relevant title, and uses some movie poster conventions. C Summary demonstrates that the remediation choices have been considered. Project has a genre, rating, and audience noted. D Project does not demonstrate any understanding or consideration of the principles of visual rhetoric. Project has no definite genre, lacks a title and/or tagline, and makes no attempt to employ the conventions of movie posters. D Summary does not demonstrate any clear thought or creative choice in the remediation. Project indicates little or no attention to genre, rating, and audience.

Movie Poster Conventions 35 points)

Project Rubric

PLOT SUMMARY Editorial/Creative Choices in the Summary (40 points)

Rhetorical Situation (15 points)

F: Project is incomplete.

+ Student Sample Projects

Shooting Pandora
A Fresh Look at a Spectacular World

Shooting Pandora
In a near future, humanity discovers the planet Alpha Centauri B-4, and for those scientists, astronauts and photographers whove traveled between its neighboring sun know it as Pandora. In this world filled with beauty and diversity, [our hero] picked up his first camera, and called Pandora home. From the Direhorse to the Mountain Banshee (Pictured on the [poster]), he feared no creature or height to get the perfect shot. You will follow him on his epic journey to capture these amazing photographs and witness the splendor that is Pandora.

IN!HER!CLEATS!
A!story!of!a!teenage!girl!and!the!obstacles!she! faces!after!a!tragic!soccer!accident!

In Her Cleats
A Story of a Teenage Girl and the Obstacles She Faces After a Tragic Soccer Accident
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COMING!SOON!TO!CINEMAS!NEAR!!!!!! YOU!!

In Her Cleats
A story of a teenage girl, her life as a soccer player, and the struggles she has to face to get where she is today. [She] is now 19 years old and in college. She still has a passion for soccer and plays on an intermural team. She started playing soccer at the age of eight and we see her journey as she grows older and develops her skills as a player. One problem arises in the midst of her soccer career. She tears her ACL her sophomore year of high school, and has to learn to cope with her injury. [She] has to make comeback if she wants to play the game she loves. It is a dramatic and long process but her love of the game and desire is what brings her back. Its a true story and will have you gritting your teeth as you see the pain she went through during her injury.

The Art Show

The Art Show

The Art Show tells the story of [Kevin]. The nineteen-year old boy grows up in a conservative engineering family in New York, but has extraordinary talent and desire in painting. However, his father, who is an engineering professor, suppresses him from painting, because he wants his son walk in his path, to be an engineer. Even though [Kevin] still does painting behind his fathers back at school. One day, a famous exhibition sponsor discovers [Kevins] paintings. The sponsor is willing host a legit art show in the Imperial building for him for free. Unfortunately, the art shows date conflicts with the National Engineering Contest, which [Kevin] has prepared for for years. Now [Kevin] has to make one of the biggest choices in his life: Dream or Fathers Will.

Primary Encounters
Do you have what it takes to face Windows 98?

Primary Encounters
The primary encounter is between the horrid monster, Windows 98 and me. The monster is activated by no other than me from a large cardboard box. The monster then escapes by throwing me down using his large and bulky keyboard, enormous mouse and various other wires sprouting from its brain also known as the CPU. The monster starts terrorizing the world and trying to hypnotize the people with its large CRT screen. It is up to me to save the world and destroy the monster. Finally I realize the monster could be trained instead of being destroyed if one can control the mouse and the keyboard. Hence in the end I could tame Windows 98 and use it for the greater cause of helping increase my knowledge in computers and technology.

Da Govs: We Takin Over

Life or Death is determined on the Gridiron.

Da Govs: We Takin Over

Growing up, [John] has built a passion for football. If he wasnt playing it then he was more than likely thinking about it. He started off young and showed any crowd that he was something to pay attention to for the rest of his career. He began with pee wees and worked his way up to high school where his whole reason for playing the game changed. Being a star on the team meant he was always being observed. One day after a tough practice, [John] was approached by a group of guys wearing black and red. They said to him that if he doesnt play for their team then his career in football and also his life would go down the drain. [John] didnt know what to believe, but he didnt want to take a chance. That night [John] received a call. The caller didnt reveal his name, but only informed [John] about tomorrow nights game. Da Govs is what they were called and they represented the gang from Hammond, Indiana. With football being so popular, gangs resorted to it as a settlement of territory. Instead of using guns and fighting, they settled everything on the gridiron. [Johns] perception of football and the way he played it from then on changed. He played to survive. He played to be able to be him again.

Readings & Videos

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Please refer to the computer for the following:
u u

7 ELEMENTS OF A GREAT MOVIE POSTER DESIGN

By Matt Carpenter for webdesigner depot

VISUAL RHETORIC
Or, Fancy Terminology to Make You Sound Smart While Explaining Why Things Look Pretty or Cool

Everything is a Remix video Series 7 Elements of Great Movie Poster Design by Matt Carpenter Visual Rhetoric Terminology PowerPoint

ENGL 106 Unit 2

Visual Rhetoric Glossary

Alignment: the placement of text and graphics so they line up on the page. Use alignment to create order, organize page elements, group items, and create visual connections. In general, good alignment is invisible. Alignment often occurs along the left, right, and middle margins. Balance: arrangement of the elements on the page so that no one section is heavier than the other. Often balance is symmetrical, but its possible to achieve balance asymmetrically or radially. Color Theory: use of the color wheel to determine the relationship between colors they can contrast, blend, or create a specific kind of affect. Primary colors and colors across from each other on the wheel tend to contrast, and colors next to one another on the wheel blend. If you want text to show up on a colored background, choose contrasting rather than blending colors. Contrast: the measureable amount of difference or dissimilarity in a designs page, screen, frame, etc., occurs with size, color value, (See hue, saturation, brightness), type (Size, value, font, color), etc.

Visual Rhetoric Glossary

Focal Point: place or object in a composition that the eye tends to go to first (either through a rhetorical use of such principles as contrast and alignment or the constructed reading practices of a culture Negative Space: space around the focal point of a composition or the space not actively being used by the various objects within the frame, page, or screen. Proximity: amount of visual space between two or more objects. This can make them appear wholly related or unrelated. Repetition: multiple instances of shapes, sizes, placements, colors, etc. that will not only provide visual unity but set the possibility for contrast. Rule of Thirds: compositional rule of photography that states that a frame can be divided into nine parts by drawing two horizontal lines and two vertical lines through it (in a tic-tac-toe fashion) and that focal points at the intersections of these lines will have more interesting tension and energy (as opposed to those at the direct center or horizons of the frame).

Adapted from L. Pinkert

ENGL 106 Unit 4

What is Rhetorical Situation?

Some helpful definitions. Rhetoric is the study of (persuasive) human communication. Persuasion in terms of rhetoric can be as simple as asking someone to turn out the light. Discourse is just an academic way of saying human communication. An author (or rhetor or writer or speaker, as theyre sometimes called) is the person engaging in discourse. The audience is the person (or people) who hears or reads a text. The audience can be a real person or a person that the author imagines reading his text. Exigence is the reason for a specific communication. When you communicate with someone, what are you communicating and why? The what and why define the exigence of that communication. Context is the circumstance in which the discourse takes place. Context can shape or even prompt exigence.

Rhetorical Situation Glossary

Constraints are any external influences (external to author and audience) that may limit or increase an audiences potential to be moved by communication. A rhetorical situation is a particular instance of discourse between an author and an audience based on exigence and shaped by contexts and constraints.

For more information, see the article Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents by Keith Grant-Davie in Writing About Writing chapter one.

+ In-Class Projects & Prompts

In-Class Mini Project: Advertisement Creation ENGL 106 Groups will be assigned a product and an audience. Using what we know about rhetorical situation, the groups will create an advertisement of their product to their target audience. You can create a visual advertisement (like a poster or PowerPoint slide) or a skit (like a TV commercial). Groups will post their advertisement to Blackboard (poster, script, etc.). Each group will present their advertisements to the class. Every group member must participate in the advertisement in some way. 10 Minutes Consider Who is the audience? What are the audiences values? What does the audience already know about the product? Why should the audience choose/use your product? How can you establish credibility? 15 Minutes Create What do you know about printed advertisements and TV commercials? Try to effectively advertise your product to your audience. Present Groups will present their advertisement to the rest of the class and explain the choices they made. Be ready to answer the questions from the Consider section.

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Advertisement Creation Project

IN-CLASS REMEDIATION PROJECT

For the past two classes we have been discussing remediation, and the ways it can change modify, highlight, and enhance various meanings. For your fourth project you will be remediating your Literacy Narratives into a Movie Poster. However, before tackling your own text, we are going to practice by remediating other texts. ICONIC TEXTS Declaration of Independence 10 Commandments Bill of Rights I Have a Dream Romeo & Juliet Harry Potter Avatar If youve got another idea of a familiar text to remediate, just ask me about it. ALTERNATIVE MEDIA Twitter Music Playlist Facebook Profile Text Message Chat Power Point Jingle Catch Phrase Resume

For Example: The Declaration of Independence as a tweet! @tommyj1776 All men R cre8ed =. Taxation w/o rep blows. Suck it Britannia #democracyrocks. Instructions: In pairs or groups of 3, remediate (translate) any of the above texts into any of the listed media. Remediation involves reinterpretation, so feel free to make creative and editorial choices. If you choose to remediate into tweets or text messages, remediate at least 3 texts. At the end of class we will share our remediations with one another, so post your final result to Blackboard. For homework, after your group has completed your remediation you will complete a Blackboard journal discussing the following: o How and why did you chose to remediate your text(s) the way you did? o What editorial choices did you make and why? o Does your remediation alter the meaning of the original text, and if so, how?

+ Remediation Project

Rhetoric Scavenger Hunt

ENGL 106 The purpose of this scavenger hunt is for us to get out on campus and really pay attention to the ways we use our basic literacies of reading and writing all the time without even realizing it, and how we are a part of rhetorical situations all the time. Texts to Look For (out in the world) graffiti flyer or advertisement that is student produced chalk writing bathroom wall writing stencil writing Texts to Look For (online) two articles about the same news story from different websites facebook advertisements When you find an example, take a picture of it. After your hunt, the photographer for your group needs to upload the photos to Blackboard and answer questions. To upload the photos, you will create a journal post in the scavenger hunt discussion page and attach the photos to your post. Please type all of your group members names in the text body of the post. Questions for Journaling (Blackboard journal due by class on Wednesday 4/11): Who created the text in the photo? (Who is the author?) Who is the audience for the text? What is the exigence for this text? What is being communicated and why? What is the context of this text and what are any constraints? (What effect do the circumstances of the text have on its exigence, and are any of these circumstances going to limit or increase the audiences attention to the text?)

+ Rhetoric Scavenger Hunt

The Kings Speech

I use these two official poster designs to demonstrate effective and ineffective uses of visual rhetoric.

X-Men: First Class

I use these two official poster designs to demonstrate effective and ineffective uses of visual rhetoric.

In-Class Writing 9/21: Analyze an Advertisement Based on our discussion of good and bad movie posters and using our glossaries of rhetoric and visual rhetoric terms, analyze this advertisement. o Who is the audience for this advertisement? How can you tell? o In what kind of context would you expect to see this advertisement? o As an audience of this advertisement, has this advertisement engaged you or lost your interest? Why? o Choose three terms from your visual rhetoric glossary and explain how this advertisement uses or does not use those principles.

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Writing Prompt: Advertisement Analysis

Adapted from Harris Fall 2011

Movie Questionnaire
Remember, this is a beginning for your projectthink of these questions as a rough draft. You arent bound to your answers. What kind of movie will your literacy narrative be? (think genre)

What kinds of editorial changes would you make to fit this genre?

What aspect of your narrative will you focus on in creating your poster?

Who will your target audience be?

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Movie Pitch Questionnaire

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