Media Literacy: Video and Advertisement

Oblique Teaching Through Video Clips

 Teacher’s Help Guide:  Thinking and Rationale Behind the Scenes

 

Video Clip –  “Will it Blend?  The iPhone 3G” & “Totally Tone” Activity

 

1.    Potential grade level for this video clip:    6-12

       Curriculum Subject Matter:    Tone, Audience, Author’s Purpose, Authorship, Humor in Messages 

2.    Where is the learning?

This video clip was chosen for its humor and potential appeal to teenagers.  Who wouldn’t be interested in the actual blending of the new iPhone 3G?  This video clip is a part of the “Will it Blend?” series of videos, a series that includes demonstration blending of glow sticks, a can of pork and beans, spray cheese, a football, and an Olympus digital SLR camera (are you beginning to see the humor here?).

 

Videos from youtube.com are a great way to get your class thinking about media literacy topics and students’ participation as both consumers and producers in this arena.  In order to become an educated member of a literate society today, students and adults must learn to question and think critically about messages that arrive in multiple formats — text, sound, video/film, photography, architecture, and the list goes on.  A text, in broadest terms, is anything that can be read and offers meaning. 

 After showing this video in class, questioning begins in the classroom as students are encouraged to deconstruct the text (the video clip).  The teacher submits questions to the class that surround issues of tone, audience, author’s purpose, and authorship (see actual sample questions below).  Students are lead to think about how a text’s structure and tone conveys meaning and influences the intented and unintended audience or reader.  All texts seek to forge a communication between the author and the reader.  Sometimes this communication is forthright and sometimes manipulative; oftentimes the communication is a combination of the two.  

 The learning for this activity centers around presentation of the text, deconstruction of the text, and student application of the concepts discussed.  Students are given the activity “Totally Tone” (see below) that asks them to review a print ad for tone/attitude and then to alter the ad by changing at least 5 details in order to change the tone.  Students work in small groups of four.  Students gain an understanding of how details in a text shape the author’s tone or attitude to the subject and to the audience.   Students put this into application with the activity. 

 Students come into contact with advertisements such as this one every day.  Students need to have an ability to deconstruct texts of all forms to understand the communication that seeks to influence the reader.  By using typically literary terms to discuss a video, students can also come to see these ideas in literature across time.  Stemming from this video, classroom topics for future discussion can include:

 A.    How is humor used to influence the reader?  Do you find humor more or less manipulative than debate?  What is parody?  What other forms of humor communicate a message?

    – View and discuss cartoons, comic strips, political cartoons, animated shows aimed at adults, satirical writers such as Mark Twain, Flannery O’Connor

 B.    How can you determine the validity of a source of information?  What research can you do to investigate?

 3.    Questions for a class discussion

 Tone / Attitude 

What is the author’s attitude toward the subject?  Toward the audience?  If you were to label the tone of this video, what two words would you use?

Why?  Discuss sound, color, font style, action, level of formality, level of credibility (ethos).

Does this video appeal to any emotions (pathos)?

Does this video appeal to logic (logos)?

Does this video appeal to credibility (ethos)?

 Audience

Is this message aimed at a particular audience or group of consumers?

Who might enjoy this video?

How might other people react to this video?

Is the audience invited to participate?  Why?

 Author’s Purpose

Why is this message being sent?

Why did the author choose this format?

Is the intent of the message compelling?  Does it work?

 Authorship

Is Blendtec a real company? 

Is Blendtec an Internet hoax?

Check out the company’s website – what do you think now? 

What other research could you do to determine the credibility of this company if you were interested? 

 Humor in Messages

Is this video a parody of anything in our culture (commonly called a spoof or a lampoon)?  Does it remind you of other videos, film, TV shows?  

Is the humor there for a reason?   Does the humor help communicate the author’s purpose? 

 4.    Challenges

Students must learn to make connections between texts they study in class and the world at large where they live and act.  One challenge with using video clips such as this one is that students will get caught up in the humor and not realize that there is still a message that is being sent to the reader.  Students may have a hard time applying the deconstruction of the video text to other print advertisements (their assignment).  By putting students in groups of four, the teacher hopes for collaborative efforts to broaden discussion and ease the process. 

 Another realistic challenge for teachers is lack of technology in the classroom.  This lesson requires the ability to show a video in the classroom.  If school districts do not allow the site youtube.com, teachers can download videos directly on their computer using Zamzar.com.  One enhancement to this video assignment would be the ability to surf the web and have the students try to research the validity of the source (the Blendtec company). 

Totally Tone Activity

In this group activity, you will identify elements of tone, analyze the intended message, and redesign an advertisement that conveys a new message to an audience.

 Group Name:

Members’ Names:

Group Roles: Recorder, drawer, and two presenters (one to present analysis and one to present the ad)

 Materials/Resources: Each group will receive: (1) Print advertisement (6) Markers (1) Blank sheet of white paper

 Instructions: After watching and discussing the tonal elements conveyed in the “Will it Blend? iPhone 3G” video, gather into your preselected groups of four and analyze the tone conveyed in the print advertisement assigned to your group. Your analysis should answer the following questions: What is the implied attitude toward the audience? What evidence reflects this tone?

After answering these questions and recording your responses on the attached form, use the paper and markers provided to redesign your advertisement to reflect a new tone. Be realistic and creative. Once your redesigned advertisement is finished, discuss its message and the changes that were made to reflect its new tone in the space provided on the attached form. Once the assignment is complete, your group will present your analysis and redesigned advertisement to the class.

 Expectations: Your group’s final product should reflect analysis and interpretation of tonal elements conveyed in the advertisement and an understanding of how these elements can be altered to communicate a different message to an audience.

 Due Dates: The assignment is due at the beginning of class tomorrow, and the presentations will follow.

 Assessment: Your project will be assessed based on creativity, content, and interpretation. Your group must demonstrate the understanding of tonal elements, audience, and intended message through design creativity, analysis, and interpretation.

 

  1.  Original Tone: What message does this advertisement communicate? How? Who might be the intended audience? What is the ad implying to the audience?

 

 

 

 

 2. Evidence: List the elements that reflect this tone or message.

       Examples: color, font style, action, or appeal.

 

 

 

 

 3. New Tone: What message does this redesigned advertisement communicate? How? Who might be the new intended audience? What is the ad implying to the audience?

 

 

 

 

 

 4. Changes:List the altered elements that reflect this new tone or message.

      Examples: color, font style, action, or appeal.