Visual Argument

To: English 1311 Students
From: Juan M. Rodriguez
Date: November 30, 2010
Subject: PSAVisual Memo
There are many types of rhetorical appeals and technical effects that I utilized in my Public Service Announcement. I have used these sort of effects to help me convey the purpose of my PSA, which is the topic of work addiction. However, I have broken down my topic into a more specific type of audience… parents. I decided to mostly target parents because it helps create a more sense of emotional appeal. Therefore, by utilizing these technical effects shown in my PSA, I have enhanced the rhetorical appeals to another level. First of all, I started off my project with a quote that stated “The only way to love is to listen”. This gives a clue to the viewer to what type of message that I am portraying in this PSA. In other words, the quote means that one has to listen in order to love and care for someone, like a parent caring for their child. A work addict, however, has a hard time listening or paying attention to the important details of a growing child, since they are too busy with their jobs. That is when the appeal of ethics comes to place. A parent should raise their child by listening to their thoughts, their growth and their lives as they begin to develop into an adult. I have put all of this to thought into just one quote! Next, I began to choose the pictures that follow my topic. It is important to have the right pictures for a visual presentation, thus, I had a lot of pictures that showed parents talking on the phone or working on their laptops instead of paying attention to their children. The child looks sad, wanting their parent’s attention. This gives an emotional appeal (pathos) since it shows how a child feels with parents that are work addicts. Then, I chose pictures that contrasted with each other. For example, one slide had a picture of a complete family that looked happy. I wrote “replacing those good old times” under the picture in a colorful text. The sudden change of color gives the effect of brightness, like in a family that spends time with each other. I even chose the animation transition of a heart in the beginning of this slide, just to give a more effect of love in a family. The next slide, however, has a picture of a man that is working hard on his computer. I chose this picture to be colorless because that is what a work addict feels at times…dull. The effect of no color shows the negativity of a work addict, while the effect of a colored picture shows the brightness of a family. I then explained about the emotional problems of an excessive worker. By doing this, I first started off by posting a picture of a stressed businessman and wrote “stress” for the caption text. Then, I put another picture of a man that was screaming at a telephone, writing the word “anger on the caption box. With this slide, I chose the animation transition of the slide tearing like a piece of paper. This gives the effect of an angry person, like if he could only show his anger and stress by tearing his long, hard work into two. I even used the visual effect of a faded red in this slide so that this slide of anger could me more effective. Red, in many occasions, signifies anger within a person, like if that person is turning red because of his anger. Finally, I chose a picture of a man that is looking out of the window, then writing “depression” under it. This section of slides shows the consequences of this addiction, giving an emotional appeal to the audience. There is one slide that I give a percentage of how many parents get divorced because of a work addiction within a parent. This is the slide where logical appeal takes role in my PSA. By showing a type of percentage, it logically shows that work addicts are unstable to have a family. After this slide, I begin to change the tone of this project. I first show a picture of a father playing with his kid, writing “so be the ideal father” in a more creative type of text. I chose this font of “Kristen” because it looks fun and happy, just like what a father experiences with his kid. In the next slide, I show a mother with her kid, and I wrote “Or mother” in another type of “joyful” text. Then, I posted a picture that shows another complete family, and I write in the captions text with a more fun-like joyous type of text. I chose the font “Matisse ITC” for this slide because this family looks joyous and fun, just like the text. It shows how a family is happy when they are together rather than separated because of a parent excessively working. Lastly, I give out information of a company that helps people and their type of addiction. I chose the last slide that has a picture to be slower than the previous slides. This picture shows a family at a beach and looking at a sunrise. This by itself already gives the effect of relaxation and peace. I wanted to slow this slide down because it gives a sudden moment to the audience….like a sudden sigh of relief and peace shown in the picture. The words of “And learn how to have the best job in the world” then suddenly appear in a slow manner. Details like these show the creativity of a movie maker, and I believe that I have done my fair share of these visual techniques. Finally, I chose “The Cats in the Cradle” as the song for my PSA because it matches really well with the message that I am trying to reveal. This has to be the most effective thing that I do in the project because this song talks about a man who does not pay attention to his kid that is growing up. This man constantly works and never has time to raise his kid. As time passes by, the kid grows up and always asks his dad to play with him or simply chat. Sadly, the man always postpones his time with his kid. As time passes by more, the kid goes to college and starts to have his own duties. The father who finally has time to relax asks his son to sit and chat with him, but the son would rather be with his friends. Time passes by once again and the father has retired. He has nothing else to do but be by himself. He calls his son to see how he is doing and see if he could meet up with him, but the son is now an adult and has to work and take care of his kids. This song is simply bad karma, but connects well with my PSA.
To reiterate, these small details and miniscule technical effects really enhance to whatever purpose you are trying to portray in your PSA. That is why I chose to use every technical effect in order to enhance the rhetorical appeals to another level.


My video for this PSA does not download sucessfully, however, I do have the link to view my PSA. I hope this could also suffice for posting my video. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Juan R.

http://www.vimeo.com/17355472