Weekly Blog Post 6

The video begins by showing his legs walking down the sidewalk. The viewers eyes are drawn to his moving feet and keep their focus on him as the camera moves up to show his face. This makes him the focus of the whole video because he is presented first as the "protagonist", the visual hierarchy has been set. Towards the beginning of the video there are a few shots where he is not in the shot and the camera is showing multiple groups. They are spread out and the ones that are placed in front are more unique and therefore grab your attention. With these shots the few exceptions, for the most part the creator has the video composed to clearly direct the viewer exactly what to look at. Either you are following Eric and look at whomever he interacts with, or if he is not in the scene it zooms in on a specific group of people or a thing, such as the ice cream or the sign with his name. Although the people are spread out at first, the camera moves in one direction showing that they are headed to one destination. As the video continues the people get closer together and are in a straight line in that same direction. The creator did a great job producing a video so that the viewers know where to look and can follow it without being overwhelmed.

The point of this video, and the song, is about people acting the way they please and not worrying about how everyone else is responding. The arrangement of this video, its appeal to logos, brings this out very well. Showing him first, making him the central focus of the video, draws the viewers into his actions and his story. He is the one being contrasted with all the different people, acting how he pleases without worrying about the others. With the creator of the video making it very clear what to look at the viewers see this video through his eyes, making an appeal to ethos. By knowing what he expects the viewers to look at we can think about what kind of person he is to be moving in one direction, following the line to the front. Also, the individuals he focuses in on, are those ones most unique to him? As the video continues, showing a clear line, headed in one direction, the viewers are drawn in to know where the line is headed. This is an appeal to pathos as it makes the viewers excited or anxious.

Weekly Blog Post 5

In the video "Rock and Roll" the appeal to ethos begins right away. He is dressed differently from the people around him, and acting different by moving along and singing with the music. Despite some of their initial sour responses to him, he always holds a smile on his face. This shows us that he is a happy guy, who is also carefree. He doesn't care if he doesn't fit in, which is also what the lyrics of this song are about. The song is about two people who, it says "if they want to rock they rock, and if they want to roll they roll" meaning they are also carefree and don't worry about fitting in. Him and the people in the lyrics just care about having a good time for themselves, not about the norms. The appeal to ethos is very effective because of how the lyrics and his actions line up.

The appeal to pathos is intended to make the audience feel happiness and even humor. The humor is seen by all the stereotypes shown throughout this video, and also how they react to him. For example, at one point they show one man in a business suit dancing along with him, right next to another man in a business suit who is stiff and without emotion. Just the thought of these business men dressed as they are in this long line is odd, but having the two total opposites right next to each other makes the stiff one look funny. The way Eric Hutchinson moves with a little bounce, and a smile on his face projects the happiness on to the people at the front of the line, or at the end of the video, but also onto the audience who watch the video. By showing all the happy and carefree people, they are using pathos to give us the same emotion. This is achieved because smiles are contagious. I can never watch this music video and stay in a bad mood.