Friday, August 29, 2008

Voting Project

After meeting in class, I decided to change my demographic to a more specific category. I am going to make my new audience be White Americans aged 18-24 who do not attend a four-year college full time. The vast majority of young people are not in college; in fact, only an estimated 25% of 18-24 year olds attend college. Commonly called the Millennial Generation or Generation Y, young voters rival the Baby Boomers in size and are the most diverse generation in history. Although increased voter turnout among young voters is a trend and most young voters are engaged in and concerned about politics, there will always be some people that just don't care or that need the motivation to do it! I am going to target the young Americans who are not enrolled in college, whether its because they are working full time, can't afford it, or for other reasons. I think the young eligible Americans that don't vote just need to be informed and pushed to the voting poll.  

QUESTIONS:
1. shared values: a good and well paying job, church (faith and religion), relationships, friends, family, entertainment, and personal time. 

2. political policies and issues concerning them: healthcare, high college tuition costs, war in Iraq, struggling economy (poverty), etc.

3. cultural references: drugs and alcohol, fast food, television and internet. computers, sports, exercising, and other activities that draw young peoples attentions. 

4. graphic landscape: internet, technology (ipods, video games, cellphones, etc), television, commercials, magazines, billboards, radio and music, and other forms of communication that they use on a daily basis.

5. reason for not voting:  not informed, too busy; conflicting schedule, illness or disability, not interested, out of town, did not like candidates or campaign issues. some just don't think its important if they don't vote. 

MORE RESEARCH: CivicYouth 
-In 2004, 60% of eligible young people were registered to vote.
-In 2004, 47% of 18-24 year old citizens voted.
-In 2006, 18% of young voters had no college education.  
-In 2006, there were an estimated 16.2 million 18-25 year old American residents who had no college experience. This constituted roughly 50% of the estimated total of 32.1 million 18-25 year old residents in America. Non-college attending young Americans have consistently voted at levels below college attending youth in both presidential and midterm election years.
-In 2006, non-college youth had an 8.3% volunteer rate, while youth with college experience reported a higher rate of 24.4%. 
-48% of 18-25 year olds in the military are youth with no college experience. 
The most effective way of getting a new voter is the in-person door knock by a peer (least effective is an automated phone call) Telling a new voter where to vote, when to vote and how to use the voting machines increases turnout. If a young person is motivated to get to the polls once, they are more likely to return. 

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Visual Language

The Demographic that I am going to chose is Young White Americans. I considered African Americans but then i realized that much of what I know about their culture is based on stereotypes and I don't want to take the risk of generalizing all blacks as a certain kind or accidently offend someone. I searched for White American Demographic on Wikipedia and found some information and the definition of this important voting group.

"Whites are regarded as the socially and demographically dominant racial group, whose norms and behavioral patterns are seen as the benchmark for normality." Total population of White Americans is 221,331,507 (73.93% of the total U.S. population). Whites are projected to remain the majority in America. Almost all White Americans speak English and Protestantism is the predominant religion.

Though diverse, WHITES still dominate America's racial makeup. And because WHITES turnout disproportionately higher than other racial groups, they compose nearly 80% of the electorate.



"White culture constitutes the general cultural mainstream, causing non-White culture to be seen as deviant, in either a positive or negative manner. Moreover, Whites tend to be disproportionately represented in powerful positions, controlling almost all political, economic and cultural institutions."

Youth Statistics: • THE 2004 ELECTIONS MARKED THE LARGEST INCREASE IN YOUNG VOTER TURNOUT SINCE 1972. Over 20 million young people ages 18-29 cast a ballot (42 million were eligible to vote), an increase of 4.3 million voters. This was a nine point increase in turnout over 2000, more than double that of any other age group. In 2004, there were nearly as many voters under 30 years old than voters over 65 years old.




1. what are some predominately shared values of this group? (broadly in life, not politics)
Being successful, family, education ("Overall, nearly one-third of white Americans had a Bachelor degree"), faith, and justice. 

2. what political policies/issues are particularly important to this demographic in this election? why?
Armed forces in War, the draft, equal rights, etc. Young people are rejecting the failed policies of the Bush Administration and support Democrats on every key issue. The economy and the war in Iraq top the list of concerns among young voters.

3. are there any cultural references your demographic identifies with? what?
Sports (Baseball), white picket fences and the "America Dream", technology, food (hamburgers and fast food), television, internet, etc.


4. what does their graphic landscape look like? 
Internet advertisements, billboards, television commercials, signs, mailers, and other forms of communication. 

5. including the aiga document and other sources, what are the issues cited for this group not voting?
In the 2004 presidential election, 39.7 percent of eligible White voters did not vote—more
than 70 million people. Of that group, more than 30 million were 25–44 years old. In a
post-election study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the top five reasons given by White
voters for not voting were:
• Too busy; conflicting schedule
• Illness or disability
• Not interested
• Did not like candidates or campaign issues
• Out of town

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Brushing Teeth

I got creative and decided to experiment with the xerox machine. I borrowed a set of fake teeth from a dental student friend of mine and I got some toothpaste and a toothbrush to play around with. I made about 100 different copies while holding the objects in different ways, trying to find out what looked best. I made copies of me putting toothpaste on the brush, as well as copies of me brushing the Typodont. I then scanned my best ten for each action into photoshop where I cropped each image to a 4x6 inch frame. Check em' out!











These are some pictures I took for one of my books for the action of APPLYING TOOTHPASTE TO THE TOOTHBRUSH










This is my activity and this is what I have come up with so far:
I made a list of the actions that make up brushing your teeth.
1. Gather toothbrush and toothpaste
2. Take cap off of toothpaste
3. Squeeze the toothpaste out of tube and onto your toothbrush. 
4. Put toothbrush in your mouth
5. Brush your teeth
6. Spit out toothpaste when finished brushing
7. Rinse out your mouth with water

Since I have to chose 2 actions I am going to consider the micro-actions that are involved in brushing your teeth. I am making my books about applying toothpaste to the toothbrush and also the action of brushing your teeth

Monday, August 25, 2008

Project 1A: Motion Capture.

project objectives:
- begin to understand the use of sequence in narration.
- explain how messages are constructed over time
- learn the basics of story boarding to convey movement, direction, the passage of time and mood.
- experiment with a variety of mediums to tell stories.
- interpret principles of 2-d design within temporal media
- explain the affordances of screen-based linear narratives in relation to printed communications
- apply precise craft to the creation of story board panels and overall presentation.
- engage in thoughtful and positive group and one-on-one critiques.

choose an activity / sport / hobby / game you enjoy.
your choice has to encompass a range of actions/activities, and you have to be able to observe it firsthand this semester to make images, photos, and observations. it’s better if other people you know participate in it as well. there also has to be a t.v. program, t.v. station, video, or film about this activity (hgtv, nfl, spellbound documentary, etc).

choose two actions from your activity / sport / hobby / game to visualize over a ten-image black-and-white book sequence. consider micro and macro motions; complex and simple motions; various points-of-view; literal, abstract, or metaphorical actions. consider pacing and sequencing through your book. how fast is the action going? are you maintaining a consistent speed, or changing speed? how can this be done in a book? is it possible to “freeze” the action?


I am really struggling with coming up with an activity for this assignment. My first instinct was to use brushing my teeth, but then i realized I don't know if I could find a movie or documentary about it. I could find a commercial, but that would me more of an advertising device for the toothpaste, not necessarily about the actual act of brushing your teeth. I remember there being cheesy videos when I was a kid about how to properly brush your teeth, but do those things even exist anymore? Any idea of how I can make this activity work? Or should I just do what you would expect, and make my activity be "bench pressing?" lol or something similar to that? I could find a tv station/show about exercising or working out. I will probably end up using this as my activity, unless I figure out how to make brushing teeth work! 

-Ok, so I decided to go with BRUSHING TEETH as my activity. 
This video inspired me and I think i will be able to find other films about this vital part of every person's day. Dental hygiene is very important and I think it will be fun to use as a subject. 
This is a great article I found about Brushing Teeth.
Different toothbrush companies offer tips on proper teeth brushing, such as Sonicare.

JUNIOR YEAR

Its time to get a fresh start on a new year at KCAI.

My classes are Narrative in Sound & Motion with Tyler Galloway, Visual Language with Tyler Galloway, and Typography III with Michael Kidwell.

I will be posting all of my progress and projects on this blog and I plan to write more on here this semester to keep my ideas and process documented and up to date.