For this project, I imagined that I was working for Flash Foxy—a women’s climbing festival that takes place in Bishop, California and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The festival consists of about 300 women and a weekend full of clinics and climbing. Due to COVID-19, the climbing festival in Bishop, California is canceled this year. I didn’t see any information on the Flash Foxy website regarding the Tennessee festival, but I imagine it is canceled too.

I decided to pretend that I was advertising a possible Bishop, California 2021 climbing festival—to get climbers excited for the upcoming year.

For my Instagram posts, I decided to use pastel colors and focus on the women aspect of the festival. I chose to advertise the 2021 festival and the Flash Fox company in general. For Pinterest, I used a simple design just to advertise the festival in general, without a specific year attached. I wanted to keep it simple since people scroll through Pinterest posts quickly and it is extremely visual. For Twitter, I pretended that my one post was from the previous month and decided to have a shout-out about Earth Day—since the climbing community strives to respect nature and the rock that we climb on. I also wanted to engage followers by asking them their opinion on a festival in 2021. I also chose to advertise the festival here. For Facebook, I wanted to keep continuity with Instagram so I used the same background for both platforms. I continued to draw attention to the possible 2021 festival.

Instagram:

Facebook:

• 

• 

Twitter:

Pinterest:

For this podcast, I decided to explore how Social Media platforms have different purposes and how those purposes can shape their personas. I interviewed 3 people, ages 16, 21, and 50 to see what they thought the purpose and persona of Instagram and Facebook are.

https://soundcloud.com/user-825801293/podcast-wam-our-media-selves

I have always known that the media plays a big role in determining how we think, feel, and react to things. However, I was not always sure how it shaped these aspects of ours lives. These past few months in our Writing Across Media class have introduced me to concepts that I have never thought about before.

One of the concepts that really stood out to me is our most recent lesson on: sound. I have never given much thought to the sound in movies and videos. Honestly, I would watch entertaining videos on how sounds were made by folly artists, but I never thought about the impact that sound has had on me as a viewer. After learning about sound and how it is amplified, changed, and selected in videos, I am surprised by the impact that it has on the way viewer’s understand or react to a video or movie.

After watching Fresh Guacamole by PES, a short-film on Youtube, I was surprised at the juxtaposition between what you hear and what you see. It made me realize that I subconsciously soak in sound and react to it, without giving conscious thought to how it makes me feel or think. For example: when the hand in the video cut the avocado, it makes a sort of loud, scraping/slicing sound that is not close to what a real avocado sounds like. However, the sound makes me focus on the avocado and how it looks like a grenade, not an actual avocado. Therefore, the sound used forces me to focus on what the creator wants me to pay attention to.

My thinking about media has developed from the beginning of the semester until now because I have become more critical. Now, when I watch videos, movies, or even read any articles, I question the motive, intent, or planning behind them. Our lessons, particularly the one about sound, has made me wonder about the impact different forms of media have on us, without us even knowing it.

The Extreme Basics of Rock Climbing