Howard Gardner propsed a theory of multiple inteligences in his 1983 book Frames Of Mind. It was a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into specific 'modalities', rather than seeing it dominated by a single general ability.
In his theory he argues that there are a wide range of abilities and only very weak correlations among them. For example, the theory claims that a child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty within the task.
Wednesday 19 December 2012
stereotypes homework
- The 40 year old virgin main character is a middle aged man who is stereotyped as a laid back guy who isn't very popular with women.
- He doesn't make much of an effort with his appearance which comes the assumption that he doesn't actually care.
- Not socially confident, especially with the opposite sex.
- Goes through many comedy situations in his transformation to eventually be able to lose his virginity and perhaps find love.
- One of those socially awkward guys who acts completely in the wrong way at times.
Cartoon geek
- Image has been printed on clothing and other items
- Stereotyped as the guy is supposedly clever, especially at science.
- Wears glasses
- Got a few freckles or spots that may be given to an unpopular person
- It is a made up cartoon which means this is how someone imagines a geek
Glee (2009-)
Glee
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama series that focuses on the high school students that form together and create a choir group called the ‘New Directions’. Throughout the series the students not only experience highs and lows of their choir competitions, but also have to deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues. The students are bullied for being a part of the group, some of which experience a high amount of peer pressure to not join as it could potentially affect their reputations. There is some stereotypical bullying where the students get a slush drink poured over them for being a ‘loser’. They may go through ups and downs with each other but they do all eventually end up in a better place together and also as individuals. Their teacher Will Schuester, also experiences similar problems throughout the series, getting divorced, relationships, but mostly being bullied and constantly teased by his rival teacher Sue Sylvester.
The image above is of the main cast in glee and who are in the choir group 'New Directions'. Just from the image you can see there are a wide range of personalities and looks within the group like for example, the three cheerleaders Quinn, Santana and Brittany, who are classed as attractive and popular along with having that stuck-up attitude to everyone around them. Then there's characters such as Rachel and Kurt who dream of being successful performers in the future ahead of them, but don't particularly have the happiest everyday school experience, occasionally being bullied for who they are. This is where the relation is to the group 'Nerds and Geeks' that I chose to study. Rachel is singled out from everyone else because of the things she wears and how she chooses to be so focused on her future, whereas Kurt is bullied for being gay. These two cases are different but still both very stereotypically done as dressing different or being gay is something people would expect individuals to picked on from.
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama series that focuses on the high school students that form together and create a choir group called the ‘New Directions’. Throughout the series the students not only experience highs and lows of their choir competitions, but also have to deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues. The students are bullied for being a part of the group, some of which experience a high amount of peer pressure to not join as it could potentially affect their reputations. There is some stereotypical bullying where the students get a slush drink poured over them for being a ‘loser’. They may go through ups and downs with each other but they do all eventually end up in a better place together and also as individuals. Their teacher Will Schuester, also experiences similar problems throughout the series, getting divorced, relationships, but mostly being bullied and constantly teased by his rival teacher Sue Sylvester.
The image above is of the main cast in glee and who are in the choir group 'New Directions'. Just from the image you can see there are a wide range of personalities and looks within the group like for example, the three cheerleaders Quinn, Santana and Brittany, who are classed as attractive and popular along with having that stuck-up attitude to everyone around them. Then there's characters such as Rachel and Kurt who dream of being successful performers in the future ahead of them, but don't particularly have the happiest everyday school experience, occasionally being bullied for who they are. This is where the relation is to the group 'Nerds and Geeks' that I chose to study. Rachel is singled out from everyone else because of the things she wears and how she chooses to be so focused on her future, whereas Kurt is bullied for being gay. These two cases are different but still both very stereotypically done as dressing different or being gay is something people would expect individuals to picked on from.
This is a screenshot of the reoccuring stunt that happens to the characters when they supposedly do something wrong in the eyes of the popular students. For example, when Finn decided to quit the football team to be in Glee club, the rest of the football team picked on him as they were annoyed, and clearly felt he was now some sort of loser. This sort of action is obviously an action that involves bullying Pretty much all of glee club eventually experience having a slushie chucked over them.
Monday 17 December 2012
The 40 year old virgin (2005)
The 40 year old virgin
Anna Smith’s article in the ‘Sight and Sound’ magazine – page 58 – Oct 2005 – Issue 10
· “There’s a market for comedies about middle-aged geeks.”
· “Andy has all the hallmarks of a movie nerd.”
- “An extensive collection of Sci-fi models, a tendency to trip up over his own feet, and an audible head-scratching habit.”
· “Andy is surrounded by a group of male stereotypes:
- Jay: unfaithful black man with friends in prison
- Dave: a lovelorn obsessive
- Cal: filthy-minded pot-smoker."
The film is about a middle-aged man's journey to finally becoming intimate with a woman. I've included this screenshot from the film to show each individual look of the main characters. Andy (far left) is the the '40 year old virgin' and when you are first introduced to him you almost instantly understand why. He tends to dress smartly a lot of the time but in the lazy smart way e.g. polo top tucked into his trousers. However when he isn't dressed for work, he still manages to show that he doesn't seem remotely bothered about his appearance. Jay (2nd from right), Dave (second from left) and Cal (far right) are Andy's co workers in which he is currently surrounded by and of who all seem to be what you would call male stereotypes. In the screenshot, you can see Andy is wearing a disastrous shirt which is what many stereotypical nerdy people may be given in a description. The other three guys haven't got as much of a clothing problem but still all seem laid back with how they present themselves. The sign above them is an example of the urgency these men have to find love as they trying out speed dating. All four of them aren't the most attractive out there either and together they become this group of nerdy but funny, middle-aged men.
This is a clip from the film where Andy is discussing the matter of talking to women, and experiments as he uses his friend Cal's advice.
You can tell that Andy is finding it very awkward as he tries to speak to Trish and think of questions to ask her. This shows how un popular people can experience low self esteem issues when it comes to interacting with other people, especially the opposite sex.
Friday 16 November 2012
Convention questions
1. Which were the most influential conventions for you? How did your study of them affect your decisions and outcomes?
Throughout the design and planning process for my magazine project, I looked up current music magazines that are out there already so I not only had something to boost my own ideas, but so I knew what had already been done. Coming up with original ideas can be quite difficult if you've never made a music magazine before, but because I had researched into ones that are big and on sale now, I knew what was working well with its buyers. Things like giving the front cover a big photo of a popular band and saying you've done an interview with them. This will stand out to fans and draw them into buying the magazine as they want to read and find out things. So I took this into consideration and even though it's done constantly with other magazines, I tried to make my image slightly different before placing it on the front cover. This change was having only selected areas of the image in colour and the rest in black and white. Even though it is only a minor change and has probably been done before somewhere, I thought it gave my magazine that bit of originality.
The names of some current music magazines are either really obvious to what the genre of the magazine is such as 'NME', or there are really random names such as 'Music Planet' which could realistically be about any type of music out there today.
2. Did you subvert (go against) any conventions that you studied in the music magazine project?
I did end up going against particular conventions such as the layout of the front cover. I went against it by wanting to place my ideas in particular ways rather than just straight forward onto the page. I wanted to change the angle of the text and also put the text on top of my images.
Post Production
For my music magazine, computer program's played a main part in the post production part. This was because I had to create and edit all my material together which I couldn't do manually. Once I had my material such as the photos, band name and the interview, I had to put it all into these four pages of the magazine I was making, and decide on a way of making it all seem creative and interesting for whoever is going to see it. Sometimes I had photos I didn't like the originals of so I used photoshop to help me combine particular two images together. I did this by using the magic wand tool and selecting all of one of the band members, copying what I had selected, and then pasting it onto the second image and placing it where fitted best i.e. next to the other band member. This solved my problem and therefore gave me an image I hadn't actually taken in the first place but worked more conveniently with my design. Being able to do this gave me the skills and knowledge of being able to edit photos that don't necessarily work originally. This new found skill soon developed into being able to do more drastic changes such as changing the colours of certain areas and not the whole image.
Revision Questions
1. Detail how your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.
Having good research and planning skills throughout the project was a key aspect as we needed to treat the project as if it was the real thing from the start. At the beginning of the pre-production AS project, we needed to research into other magazines within the same area the magazine we were making was going to be. Once we had our research we then used it as a guide to help us produce our own.
2. How did your knowledge of digital technology aid your research and planning skills throughout the pre-production or your AS and A2 coursework?
My knowledge of digital technology helped me with my research a lot as I needed to know how to use particular websites and programs in order to give my research done. Websites like YouTube and Google were my main source's as I would use Google to give me factual websites and information, and then YouTube to let me look up music videos and songs that fell under my chosen music genre. Photoshop was my main program to design and edit my magazine, and it allows me to set out and produce my material in the way I want it. However, I did have some cut backs as I couldn't do everything in the way I first planned out and so I had to make a few adjustments. This therefore gave me more knowledge about photoshop and for when I use my planning skills again, I will know what I can and can't do.
Questions
1. Do you think you were creative or not throughout your coursework?
In my coursework I feel I wasn't as creative as I could of been. I think this because I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to make the magazine something the audience will really remember. I did try and make things stand out and interesting, but looking back on it I could of tried things that are much more unusual e.g. making the music band's 'look' more wild and unique. By doing this the band would stand out to an audience as they'll either love it or hate it, like for example Lady Gaga who tends to dress in extremely unusual outfits or do crazy things in her music videos, and all of this is remembered.
2. Did technology enhance your creativity or not?
I definitely feel technology helped my creativity as I was able to change and design things in certain ways to make the magazine how I'd planned, but on the other hand it also effected some of my ideas by not letting me create particular things how I wanted them. This problem left me having to change my ideas either slightly or dramatically, some of which I did end up preferring. I think situations like this aren't avoidable as technology hasn't yet been made so you can do everything you want, so I think I should of come up with more ideas at the start which I could of turned too if there was a problem.
3. What ideas did you communicate and what stylistic techniques did you use? How did it relate to your interests/self-identity?
For my magazine I used things such as questionnaires which I gave out to a certain amount of people to fill out and then collect back in to rally up the results and help me with what I would include. The results for example, told me how many people liked or disliked something, and so I would then put something appropriate into my magazine. Competitions and eye-catching text was another way of communicating with the audience as it caught their attention by having things such as 'WIN' in bold. This is obviously going make most people want to read on and see what they could possibly win.
4. Was your product influenced by your environment?
I think my product was influenced by my environment in some ways as it was based on a magazine I would be interested in myself. I go most days seeing a bit of 'Indie' music somewhere even if it's not on purpose, and as I enjoy Indie I decided to create my product in that style. I feel a lot of people my age are in into Indie music as well and as I was aiming it at my age group, I thought it fitted well. However, I did doubt that the Indie style would be too difficult to pull off in a magazine as it can be subtle but still interesting.
5. Was it original or did you add something extra to an original media text?
It was original as I created it all myself, including the band which was just made up, but I did look through lots of magazines and media texts that were already out in the media to give me ideas and something to relate back too. The designing was often me having to improvise as the original idea wouldn't go to plan, but in the end I found some way of creating what I wanted each time that happened.
6. Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?
Yes I would definitely take any creative skills into future projects as I feel they would benefit me when it came to designing and producing a media product for example, that needs my current skills and more. I think taking skills you already have to something else is always a good idea as you can learn to improve them and make them more successful. The skills could also be engaged with other projects as I know them now and therefore am able to use or not use when I choose.
In my coursework I feel I wasn't as creative as I could of been. I think this because I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to make the magazine something the audience will really remember. I did try and make things stand out and interesting, but looking back on it I could of tried things that are much more unusual e.g. making the music band's 'look' more wild and unique. By doing this the band would stand out to an audience as they'll either love it or hate it, like for example Lady Gaga who tends to dress in extremely unusual outfits or do crazy things in her music videos, and all of this is remembered.
2. Did technology enhance your creativity or not?
I definitely feel technology helped my creativity as I was able to change and design things in certain ways to make the magazine how I'd planned, but on the other hand it also effected some of my ideas by not letting me create particular things how I wanted them. This problem left me having to change my ideas either slightly or dramatically, some of which I did end up preferring. I think situations like this aren't avoidable as technology hasn't yet been made so you can do everything you want, so I think I should of come up with more ideas at the start which I could of turned too if there was a problem.
3. What ideas did you communicate and what stylistic techniques did you use? How did it relate to your interests/self-identity?
For my magazine I used things such as questionnaires which I gave out to a certain amount of people to fill out and then collect back in to rally up the results and help me with what I would include. The results for example, told me how many people liked or disliked something, and so I would then put something appropriate into my magazine. Competitions and eye-catching text was another way of communicating with the audience as it caught their attention by having things such as 'WIN' in bold. This is obviously going make most people want to read on and see what they could possibly win.
4. Was your product influenced by your environment?
I think my product was influenced by my environment in some ways as it was based on a magazine I would be interested in myself. I go most days seeing a bit of 'Indie' music somewhere even if it's not on purpose, and as I enjoy Indie I decided to create my product in that style. I feel a lot of people my age are in into Indie music as well and as I was aiming it at my age group, I thought it fitted well. However, I did doubt that the Indie style would be too difficult to pull off in a magazine as it can be subtle but still interesting.
5. Was it original or did you add something extra to an original media text?
It was original as I created it all myself, including the band which was just made up, but I did look through lots of magazines and media texts that were already out in the media to give me ideas and something to relate back too. The designing was often me having to improvise as the original idea wouldn't go to plan, but in the end I found some way of creating what I wanted each time that happened.
6. Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?
Yes I would definitely take any creative skills into future projects as I feel they would benefit me when it came to designing and producing a media product for example, that needs my current skills and more. I think taking skills you already have to something else is always a good idea as you can learn to improve them and make them more successful. The skills could also be engaged with other projects as I know them now and therefore am able to use or not use when I choose.
Positive and Negative
This image gives you the stereotypical look that a high percentage of people would think a nerd or geek would look like. A number of particular looks that are portrayed by people who dress up as nerds or geeks tend to all be unfortunate e.g. by dressing in formal clothes all the time from a young age or having they're hair and features in a way that isn't so popular with everyone else. This is a negative point as aspects like these can result in bullying just from the fact they're unique to everyone else around them.
I think this is a negative way of showing how a nerd may look as it's making them seem unattractive just because they are intelligent.
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