An interesting youtube series from RSA Animates has been brought to my attention fairly recently. The initiative takes a sound clip from TED talks and creates whiteboard animation that coincides with the topics discussed in the lectures in a wholly engaging and entertaining way. A particular favorite of mine focuses on a lecture given by Sir Ken Robinson on the institutional nature of the education system of the United States. His argument revolves around how schools and the culture that they assume are doing destructive things for students by limiting their capacity to learn and their general outlook on almost everything. Now, Robinson is not saying that education is a destructive force. Rather, he is stating that the institutional foundations in American education are mostly irrelevant and wrongly applied to the best interest of people who wish to flourish in our current system in which economic and social structural stresses are abundant and present. These are the basic premises that Robinson discusses in his lecture, but I am more concerned with the use of animation for the purpose of more effective rhetoric.
I was very surprised to find how engaging this video would be with the title of "Changing Education Paradigms". I can honestly say that I have viewed this video multiple times and that I'm still entertained and engaged in the material. I believe that the animation aspect of the video is mostly responsible for this. This is the main reason as to why the video and series as a whole function on such a deeper level of rhetoric than just the lecture alone. The animation portion of the video allows the argument to be emphasized to a greater extent because it allows the material to resonate with the viewer. The added level of dimension that it brings cause me to confront the argument with a heightened awareness which further allows the argument to make its impact. Thus, a deeper rhetorical power is added which causes the argument to be reinforced and given more attention to.
Connor, thanks for posting the video. (I didn't make it through all 12 minutes, but I liked what I saw!) Your post reminds me of a conversation from the movie 50/50. (Not a great movie, by the way; I don't recommend it. But that's beside the point.) In one scene, the main character (who works in radio) is discussing the differences between TV and radio with older men--men who grew up when there weren't TVs, and for whom radio was the most common medium for entertainment. The men remembered being completely engaged by the radio, but say that it can't compete with TV. Having both audio and video naturally interested them more. I think this animation provides another example of that and heightens our awareness of the rhetorical power of video. (A good thing to keep in mind, considering the project we're about to start!) Video allows the rhetor to manipulate everything about the viewer's experience, from the subtle background music to the appearance of characters, text, effects, etc. It's overwhelming to consider how many rhetorical decisions are present to the creators of a video...but, then again, those choices are what make the videos so awesome!
Connor, thanks for posting the video. (I didn't make it through all 12 minutes, but I liked what I saw!) Your post reminds me of a conversation from the movie 50/50. (Not a great movie, by the way; I don't recommend it. But that's beside the point.) In one scene, the main character (who works in radio) is discussing the differences between TV and radio with older men--men who grew up when there weren't TVs, and for whom radio was the most common medium for entertainment. The men remembered being completely engaged by the radio, but say that it can't compete with TV. Having both audio and video naturally interested them more. I think this animation provides another example of that and heightens our awareness of the rhetorical power of video. (A good thing to keep in mind, considering the project we're about to start!) Video allows the rhetor to manipulate everything about the viewer's experience, from the subtle background music to the appearance of characters, text, effects, etc. It's overwhelming to consider how many rhetorical decisions are present to the creators of a video...but, then again, those choices are what make the videos so awesome!
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