WangN+Week+9

=Week 9=

3/26/2012: Topic Description

 * The Idea:** I would like to base my Visual Story Project on a poem called //The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner//, by Randall Jarell. It is my favorite poem to date. It will be slightly a challenge because it is only five lines long, but there is a lot of meaning to the poem that can be expanded and exaggerated in this project. Currently, I am entertaining the idea of creating a "children's story" that is actually meant for adults, with the idea/theme of "Children Fighting Wars" or something similar.


 * Sontag:** On page 4, Sontag states, "Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out. They age, plagued by the usual ills of paper objects; they disappear; they become valuable; and get bought and sold; they are reproduced. Photographs, which package the world, seem to invite packaging. They are stuck in albums, framed and set on tables, tacked on walls, projected as slides. Newspapers and magazines feature them; cops alphabetize them; museums exhibit them; publishers compile them."


 * Reflection:** This paragraph deals with how photographs that "make it," that are successfully taken, made tangible, distributed, etc. endure the rest of their lives. I had to wonder: What about all of the photographs that //should// have made it? What about all of the moments that deserved to be captured, but never were? This applies to ideas, as well. How many nuances have never been solidified, how many issues were never illustrated in a way that people could understand? I think this is what I want to attempt.


 * Definition:** Ball Turret; the type described in Randall Jarrell's poem, specifically, is the Sperry ball turret, which was mounted on the underside of an aircraft. It was small to reduce drag, and therefore, the smallest/shortest man would operate it. The gunner would sit inside the turret in the fetal position and swivel the whole contraption in order to shoot.


 * Search:** I simply searched for "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" in the Prezi search and discovered the image of a man in a ball turret. Searched "crying boy" and found the painting "Crying Gypsy Boy" by by Bruno Amadio. Loved the sepia coloring in the image; the painting holds a lot more appeal to me than a stock photograph of a crying child. Searched "scared child" in Google Images and found the three photographs of frightened children; the first, a boy peeking out from behind his hands; the second, a boy with haunted eyes; the third, a young boy looking downward. I also searched for American WW2 helmets on Prezi and found one image, which has since been posted to Prezi with a small caption describing what it is, so that I can keep track of my photographs.


 * Prezi:** Saved all of the images under a bookmark folder, dragged to folder on desktop. My Internet connection at home is very poor and these could not be uploaded to Prezi. I will have to upload these while on campus. I have not yet applied any manipulations to the photographs.


 * Manipulation:** I want to toy with the images so that their color schemes give off a vintage feel in some pictures, and a visceral, threatening feeling in others. I want them all to feel like part of a storybook with child-like illustrations, but an adult message. I do not think this storybook will have a happy ending, since the poem does not end on a happy note. I want an almost cartoonish feel to all of the images.


 * My Point:** I have always been fascinated by human conflict, and this is best represented in war. There are many reasons for why war occurs, but I do not want to focus on this. I am particularly interested in what happens in war on the individual level--how humans cope in different ways, and the different situations we are all found in. Jarell's poem is about how small a man is in the vast scheme of war--how insignificant. I will illustrate this by sending a child to fight a monster in battle.

3/26/2012: Audience Profile

 * Kind of Viewer: || Primary ||
 * Education: || College/university ||
 * Professional Experience: || In the work force ||
 * Job Responsibilities: || Provide for family; has children or young relative ||
 * Personal Characteristics: || Protective, especially of children and families ||
 * Personal Preferences: || Involved, willing to question authority or power ||
 * Cultural Characteristics: || Familiar with war, but may not understand the politics/horrors of it ||
 * Attitude Towards the Subject: || Ambivalence, curiosity ||
 * Expectations about the Subject: || Violence, gore, tragedy ||
 * Expectations about the Photograph: || Violence, gore, tragedy, murder ||
 * Reasons for Viewing the Photograph: || Curiosity ||
 * Way of Viewing the Photograph: || Skim, study, and analyze ||
 * Viewing Skill: || Capable of analyzing, capable of questioning and applying details that are noticed to real life ||
 * Viewer’s Physical Environment: || Home or school environment ||