Harry Potter Series

I decided to try something a little different and look for the three acts in the whole Harry Potter movie series.

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone is the first act. Is's the first movie in the story and you, along with Harry Potter are being introduced into this magical world. The conflict is not only trying to find out who is trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, but the existence of Harry himself, Lord Voldemort. This introduces the main villain.

The second act comes into play with the fourth Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. In this movie internet conflicts between characters are introduced. But the reason why I think that this movie is the second act is because Lord Voldemort is resurrected in this movie. He is reestablished as the most powerful wizard alive and takes control. Everything goes to shit and the heroes must struggle to live from this point on. This is the rising action. 

The third act, is of course, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. In this movie everything is resolved, things are revealed to answer questions one may have about the series as a whole. A perfect ending, Lord Voldemort is destroyed and the world is once again at rest with peace and harmony.

Photo 1: http://missglayiii.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/to-once-again-begin-%E2%80%93-before-it-all-ends-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerer%E2%80%99s-stone/

Photo 2: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire_(film)

Photo 3: http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/14325037/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows---part-2/images/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-20110701015046953.html?page=mediaFull

Bloggers Gone Bad (Comm 203)

After reading the article and watching the video I am very shocked. What happened to those people is never heard of. Even if these 2 people weren't bloggers expressing their views on Mexican drug cartel, the cartel basically said that the bloggers are next.

     This brings a state of fear to bloggers across the internet, maybe these people posting about it might think they are next and stop. This gives me a feeling that the internet is no longer safe. You are never safe behind your computer screen anymore, you have to think and watch what you say, much like in real life. 

     Even though I am not involved in any way this makes me feel unsettling. I just can't believe that some people are capable of harming and dehumanizing other people in this way. It's disgusting. 

Framing (Comm 403)

Framing is when a word is spoken or read and it puts a picture of something in someones mind. It's basically a sterotype, and when a person hears someone say a word or phrase, they associate that word or phrase with the stereotype.
    For example, in a criminal court case, they defendant says, "I did not kill my wife." Keep in mind that he says this after loads of evidence has already been compiled on to him. The jury already knows that he is guilty, and this just puts the image of him killing his wife into the jury's heads.
     The defendant should never use the same language that the other side uses to describe or associate with him. That's just a very easy way to create framing.

Scott McCloud (Comm 203)

Scott McCloud has revolutionized the way we look at comics by showing the reader ways to get more emersed into a comic.
    One way is to show the reader that there are things going on inside the panels, but make the reader invision what is going on between the panels. There are always things happening between the panels because they are pictures. There is only so much of a message that a writer can convey within a comic. Which Scott has shown that the readers can look for a sense of what happened in between the comic panels.
    Another way is with computers, comics can be created on an infiinite canvas. So the way that the comic flows changed dramatically. Now comics can be told in a spiral or they could be told through a staircase pattern. You could now do a turn in a story that litterally made the panels change direction. This new jump in comics spawned endless possibilities.

Denotation, Connotation, Mythological/Ideological significance Verizon advertisement (Comm 403)

   Ideological/Mythology

• The ideology in this advertisement is the depiction of how much for 3G coverage Verizon Wireless has over AT&T. The advertisers are using a simple graphic image to explain to the customer who is better, and It's obvious who has more 3G coverage. So who will the customer go to? The Mythology is "bigger is better." Which is represented through the picture comparing Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

   Denotation

• Two maps of the United States. One representing Verizon Wireless' 3G coverage. The other representing AT&T's 3G coverage. And "5X More 3G Coverage" is written at the bottom to remind the customer that Verizon Wireless is bigger and better than AT&T.

   Connotation

• The connotation is that the map on the left, representing Verizon Wireless is far more superior than the map on the right, which is AT&T. The map has far more areas supporting 3G connectivity. 

     Photo credit: http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2009/11/4/saupload_att_sues_verizon_over__there_s_a_map_for_that__ads.jpg

     

Graphic Novel (Comm 203)

   A graphic novel can help the creator to communicate with his audience in a number of ways. To start it off everyone likes pictures, it makes certain things less painful to read. This is effective especially with the right amount of pictures mixed with the actual text.

   When people read graphic novels they don't always get the meaning of the novel through the text, but they also have to find meaning from within the pictures as well. I guess this could be a way of learning the same thing twice, which sounds good and there could be benefits to it. Maybe this could be a way to retain information better?

   I personally think that is a very good and significant want to go about a learning process. 

To Hell and Back

   The music video that I am going to analyze is entitled, "To Hell and Back" by Blessthefall.
The story of the video is that of a suffering woman and this video has some similarities of the mainstream music video portrayal of women.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LRrV_GQ62w


   To start this off her life sucks and she is very helpless and relies on drugs to get her away from her painful life. She is also anorexic and in result, she is constantly worried about her appearance which leads her into a deeper, darker hole.
   One other similarity she has is her helpless and very dependent on her man. When her man isn't there with her she is hysterical and in constant need of him. But when he IS there he beats her. It's obvious that he is in total control of her and this hopelessness is driving her over the edge.
   She injects herself with a syringe which I'm assuming its heroin. One thing that I would like to point out is that she injects the heroin into one of her wounds caused by her man. This is a sign that she could be doing heroin because of her man. The wounds she has are caused by him, another reason why she is not in control.
   At the beginning and end of the video a butterfly is show. At the end of the video the butterfly is dead, she once was a butterfly but now that butterfly is dead and gone.
 
                                                                                                                                                               

Snickers Ad (Comm 403)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkT_d2OTgv0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

There are signs in this advertisement, the first is when Mr. T. busts through the house to go after the speed walker and the second is when Mr. T. starts firing Snickers at the speed walker to get him to run. It's showing that Snickers is not to be taken lightly and you better be serious if you want a Snickers.

The Signifier  in this commercial is Mr. T. He sees that the guy speed walking and it angers him. To correct the speed walker with firing Snickers at him. Mr. T. is "correcting" the speed walker with a Snickers. This could be interpreted as the speed walker needs the Snickers to become more manly.

The Signified is Mr. T. Showing the speed walker how to be more of a man, and that is through the path of Snickers.