http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS8XY4GMnJk
This video shows the negative effects of the use of crystal meth. It a before and after picture of meth users. How is the film maker using rhetorical devices in this video? Why do you think the film maker chose this music to accompany his video? By showing the physical effects, do you think that this video will appeal more to men or women?
I am responding to a question asked by the poster of this ad. The video definitely shows the effects in a physical sense to the viewer. This rhetoric, to me, is part of shock value. Personally, shock value does not appeal much to me, as it makes me feel as if they are shoving it in my face and saying if you do this this will happen to you. The point of it is to scare people of these negative effects in hopes that it will drive them away from using the drug. To answer the question on who it is likely to affect more, I think it is likely to affect women more. Women are more likely to be completely grossed out and sickened by the images due to a more emotional side, and more men might take it as an exaggerated ad to push people away. From the effect of being so grossed out, women are a lot less likely to try the drug and pursue it than a man is. So because of this, I feel as if women are more effected by gross and sickening images than men are. To go a little more in depth, men and women is not the only factor in the interpretation of the image. Education level, previous experiences, as well as the house you were brought up in play a huge effect in to who is most affected by the gross images and physical effects that can occur. In all, it is very possible that a man can be affected more than a women, but in general, it is my opinion that women are more affected by the showing of the physical effects, and are less likely to pursue the drug due to the images shown in the ad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that gross and unattractive images seem to affect women more than men. Some of the images in this video really grossed me out and I thought "Wow, I'm glad that I don't take meth. I really don't want to look like that." Women take pride in their appearance and generally put forth a lot of effort to look good each day. Anything that makes you look a lot less attractive is a huge turn-off for women.
DeleteIn response to your comment about the shock value in this video, I agree that the video attempts to use shock value to keep people from using meth, but it isn't the strongest shock value that I have seen from anti-drug ads. The appearance changes in the images tend to be less noticeable as the ad progresses. The final two images of the young boy in a sweatshirt and the very deformed character at the end made the ad seem less effective. It might have been an attempt by the video creator to add comic relief to the video, but the music and the ridiculous photo at the end was a bit too much. The combination of the two made the ad seem less realistic and less effective.
I am responding to this video using blog prompt 7. The creator of this video definitely uses shock value as the main rhetoric tool. However, the video is not too effective in term of emphasizing the danger of meth, or to persuade people from using meth. The video shows a series of about ten people and how each was looked before and after using meth. Compared to other anti-drugs videos, this technique seems very boring and repetitive, and rather ineffective. Something else to point out is that the images at the beginning of the video are very freaky. However as the video goes on, the images of people using meth actually did not look so bad anymore, in fact they might even look "better". Many of the comments, approved by the majority (by having many up-votes), mentions how the woman (at 1:26) actually looks better/hotter after using meth, and how the man’s hair (at 1:13) grows after using meth. The use of "decreasing" shock value as the video progresses was a huge mistake. It should be vice-versa, or at least keep that shock value at the level of expectancy from the beginning of the video. At the end the creator of the video inserts a picture of him and a picture of a weird looking fictional character, with the message “the result of 9 months after meth.” This addition is extremely irrelevant to the video as a whole, since it makes the video overall seems like a joke. If the creator himself is not serious about sending out his messages, then how can the audience receive these messages seriously?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that this video is one of the least effective that I have seen thus far in class. I agree that the author tried to use shock value as the main form of rhetoric, but did not do a very good job depicting the effects of meth. If there was more substance to the video other than the non-relevant music and pictures, the video could have had more effectiveness to the viewers watching. I believe if personal stories were included it would have been added to the rhetorical value of the video. Overall, the video had a various tone, and in effect was not very effective at all.
DeleteIn response to Jacob's post, I agree that the creator of this video used shock value in an attempt to show the negative effects of the drug and drive viewers away from drug use. However, in response to the question about which sex this video would appeal more to, I believe that it appeals more to men. In general, men are have a thicker-skin and are less emotional. I think that shock value of this magnitude is needed in order to influence most guys. I also think that peer pressure is more of an issue for men than for women. The combination of these two factors are why this video appeals more to men. Guys are more inclined to try something if their peers want them to compared to that affect on women. Guys are more stubborn and less willing to seem weak, so consequently they are more influenced by peer pressure. This video could effect men and make them think twice about doing drugs. Alternatively, I think that women are better at sticking to what they know is the right thing to do. This video does not appeal to them as much because most women already have their mind made up on whether or not they will do drugs. The images appeal more to men because they are likely to see these negative effects as a sign that that is not who they want to become.
ReplyDeletePrompt 7: The main goal of this piece definitely seems to be to scare and deter people away from doing drugs by using shocking images accompanied with time frames. By showing how quickly meth can dramatically change one's appearance, the author is attempting to scare the audience away from ever using the drug. The short time frames help reiterate how quickly someone can become addicted to drugs and how quickly its affects can begin to show. The short times also make it seem like once the user uses once it's almost certain that the user will become addicted and fall victim to the drugs, which the author hopes will prevent them from ever using. With this being said, the uptempo, "corny" music paired with the last fake picture, takes away from the video as a whole. The music makes the video seem less serious and fails to keep the audience's attention. The final picture also takes away from the video and makes it seem like all of the previous slides were jokes. Due to the choice of music and the final slides, the video fails to accomplish its goals and is unlikely to stay in the audience's mind.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with a few of the points made. Although the music was 'corny' and the last picture did throw off the overall theme I think the video would in fact stay with the audience. Throughout the two minute video many images are displayed which includes some that were somewhat shocking and graphic. I do agree that the music was a bit out of place, but it has a nice beat that didn't seem to distract from the overall slideshow. The music may have been chosen to keep the audience interested by providing background noise to the video. The video could use some editing to better help achieve it's goals, but it seems to provide enough content to show the audience the effects of meth.
DeleteIn response to Casey's comments about the method of display:
DeleteI almost entirely agree with you. Though the editor did make some poor choices, the video still causes the audience to understand the effects of crystal meth.
However, the editor's choices were poor only if he/she intended to make a video condemning crystal meth. On the surface it appears that the editor intended to show the effects of crystal meth, yes. But what supports that fact? Only the images. There's music, images from the "Faces of Meth" project, and a messed-up version of George Costanza at the end. The only element which suggests the point is to condemn crystal meth is the "Faces of Meth" images. The rest seems geared towards humor.
My conclusion: the editor intended to make a misguided comedic video.
In response to the questions posted by Tdegraff12, the rhetorical devices used in this specific advertisement that was aimed against the use of crystal meth were amplification, shock value, and climax. The pictures were amplified because clearly the creator of this video decided to use the most drastic cases in which the pictures had a radical difference between the before and after pictures. Shock value was used because all of the images were incredibly disturbing to anyone and showed the extent to which crystal meth can have on a person. The use of climax in this video was with all of the images, getting progressively more harsh and raw, until the final pictures resulted in a hyperbolic joke, to give a lighter feel to the end of the video. Additionally with the lighter feel, the music was rather upbeat unlike most drug advertisements and I feel it resembled the uncomfortable that crystal meth could cause. I do not feel that this advertisement was particularly aimed at a certain gender, portraying both equally, but it definitely showed that crystal meth can affect both sexes.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Trevor. I agree that the author definitely used shock value as a rhetorical device. In every single person's photograph you can see their skin scabbing on their faces and they look like they have not bathed in weeks. It definitely can cause someone who is considering trying meth to change their minds because of the crazy physical changes it caused in the people in the video. Obviously the author used the most dramatic cases they could find, but I believe this makes the video that much more powerful.
DeleteIn response to this post, I do agree that the creator used shock value, and personally,I think there were many strong comparisons. This video indicated the changes between appearances when those people were taking drugs and stopping drugs. And I think this video more appeals to women because women seemed to be weaken people in this society and women could be more sensitive because of their own moods, or others like boyfriends (girlfriends), families. Suppose they may get hurt more easily than men, that is why women could have more possibilities to be addicted to drugs, like meth.
ReplyDeletePrompt 7: The purpose of this video is to deter people from using meth, and it uses shock value to convey it's meaning. The rhetoric that is shown was poorly used by the author; it seems as if he/she did not intend on making an informative video, rather a compilation of pictures. The music that was used did not do a very good job of connecting to the audience, the fast beats and unworldly sounds were counterproductive to the relevance of the subject. Aside from the production quality the video did show enticing images at first but fizzled out at the end. Finally ending with a "joke" picture which ruins the credibility of the author. I do not believe that this video had any real impact on anyone who was watching. For instance the most liked comment on the video was in reference to the girl at ( 1:28 ) looking better than before. In regards to men and women, the video does not make a distinction, showing the gender neutral side of meth and how it can effect everyone. In conclusion the video's poor use of logos, and by throwing their credibility out, the author ruined the impact this video can make on it's viewers.
ReplyDeletePrompt 7: The video attempts to dissuade people from using meth by showing effects it has on users' appearance. This is done through shock value because many of the pictures used in the video are upsetting and gross, but I do not think it was done effectively. While the video is indeed shocking, it lacks credibility because of ill-fitting music, poor editing, and lack of sincerity. The music distracts the viewer from the pictures due to its upbeat tempo. The editing is clearly done using a free editing tool making you question how reliable the creator of the video is and if the people portrayed in the pictures are actually meth users. Lastly, concluding the video with a "joke" makes it even easier for the viewer to ignore the purpose of the video and hold onto their original values.
ReplyDeleteFor me personally, the joke at the end and the upbeat music didn't take away from the seriousness of the video. Although the video didn't do a great job of showing the dangers of meth, it showed serious physical changes which in my opinion have more of an effect on women. In general girls care more about their appearance than guys. But in reality, no guy or girl is going to look at this video and the effects it had on those victims, and say "I want to do meth." So I think it was effective. And maybe the author chose the music to accommodate the joke at the end and lighten the mood, but I'm not really sure.
ReplyDelete