Gabriel

Majoring in English, Writing & Rhetoric. Looking to be a technical writer. 22 years old, he/him, Venezuelan.

Horrifying Journalism, Terrifying Comics

 Posted by on Thu, 3/21 at 7:47pm  genre translation prewriting  No Responses »
Mar 212019
 

Lifetime Films: TV Movie Dramas ⇒ Parody News Articles

I checked how many Lifetime movies have been written, cast, shot, and distributed–I suppose out of curiosity–and there’s over 630 of them. This would be quite an achievement if they weren’t all fundamentally the same, equally low-quality, and constantly over-the-top. In fact, the genre’s been stretched to the point where the drama that appears on-screen is outrageous, unbelievable, and oversaturated with random kidnappings and decade-long revenge plots. What’s interesting to me about the genre is that viewers are so used to the drama itself that it can be easy to overlook how unintuitive or unrealistic the plot is. I haven’t chosen a specific movie yet, but I’d love to rewrite the plot of a ridiculous Lifetime film in a journalistic, seemingly real, news article (almost like a mockumentary). Tracking the police’s ineptitude, explaining how every relevant teenager has NSA-level hacking skills, taking film dialogue as witness testimony, and illustrating all the ridiculous twists and turns seems as entertaining as it is insightful. I think breaking down the plot in this way can reveal how vapid and directionless Lifetime can be at its worst. It’ll all make much less sense on paper.

 

Horror Movies: Films ⇒ Graphic Novels

Just considering the limits of the medium of comics, it can be hard to imagine an effective horror movie adaptation to a graphic novel, especially considering the modern overreliance on jump-scares, movement, lighting, and sound design–I’m looking at you, horrible violin that gets me every time. Instead of reframing plot or parodying or providing commentary, this idea would examine the benefits and limitations of both genres in question to make a proper transition possible, including techniques to portray sound visually, theory in building suspense and never placing a scare in the same page as the suspense-building (since most people glance at each page with their peripherals and will notice imagery that sticks out), or any other workarounds to translate the horror we see on-screen. This new medium could be incredibly appealing among cult followings and different subcultures around. Most bookstores have a section for this kind of graphic novel, and I think the challenge of it is very interesting.

Defining Luxury: Fragrance Ad Proposal

 Posted by on Thu, 2/28 at 4:40pm  Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 282019
 

Fragrance advertisements are widely known for their eccentricity and uniqueness, and it can be hard to imagine how that contributes to its $75 billion industry. Clearly, they are very effective at selling perfumes and colognes despite their specific impact on customers being nebulous. Frequently the subject of parody, the unconventionality of this genre and its vague tropes cannot be understated, and it consequently proves itself to be a potentially fruitful topic of study.

This project strives to analyze, understand, and explain how the unique tropes of fragrance ads can aid in its purpose of selling the product. By examining commercials from within the past few decades, relevant trends in techniques, symbology, and themes and be established, and these can be deconstructed to discover the purpose behind their existence in the genre. Examining the history of fragrances commercially provides contextual insight on relevant trends as well.

Specifically, this project will examine recurring tropes and their ulterior rhetorical appeals, such as with bodies of water and the absolution of the wealth, and how all the components of the ads tie into a central rhetorical approach, to maintain the culture of luxury that the fragrance industry thrives on. The project will connect the elements that make the ads stand out, such as their vagueness and artsy presentation, to this overall approach as well. This analysis will be placed within the context of television commercials and print ads that are commonplace, considering their limitations and target demographics.

Common aspects of the commercials to be dissected include the commercial’s conceptual esotericism, the ethos of association with celebrities and luxury products, the exotic and artsy presentation of the ads themselves, and a focus on selling fantasies that appeal to the individual customer. These all work despite contradictions and curious observations within these ads, such as stinky imagery when the product being sold is a pleasant fragrance and a low cost of production per bottle for most household fragrances.

All genres self-perpetuate; adding new content to an existing genre only further cements the trends that define it. Fragrance commercials, however, are unique in that their tropes are contrived, intentional, and revolve entirely around maintaining a culture of luxury. All their components work towards this objective. This makes them a fascinating subject for the study of rhetoric, writing, and advertising, as well as shed light on the products we incorporate into our lives and how these commercials work and persuade us. Ultimately, the project concludes that there is a very palpable reason behind the ads’ obvious strangeness—to overcome the specific challenges that come with selling fragrance bottles.

Fragrance Ads – Subject/POS

 Posted by on Wed, 2/20 at 1:32pm  subject-POS  No Responses »
Feb 202019
 
Subjects Points of Significance
Esoteric, vague, and confusing commercials. Creates the illusion of depth and meaning.
Associated with celebrities, cars, watches, etc. Cements fragrances as luxury products by association.
Foreign and exotic presentation. Artsy cinematography. Generates a feeling of class and sophistication.
Focus on selling a personal identity via fragrance. Increases brand loyalty. Status quo of requiring identifier.

Possible Topic: Every aspect of fragrance ads works to maintain fragrances’ culture of luxury, despite more apparent objectives in the ads and interesting contradictions (absolution of wealth as a theme, stinky imagery despite it being a perfume commercial, low cost of production per bottle, etc.)

Fragrance Ads [Technical Definition]

 Posted by on Tue, 2/12 at 6:39pm  technical definition  No Responses »
Feb 122019
 

In advertising, fragrance ads are mass-marketed commercials and print ads that sell products such as perfumes and colognes. These ads are different from most others due to their eccentric and widely-recognizable tropes, such as an overtly esoteric and artistic presentation, highly-aestheticized cinematography, vague plot and imagery, and persistent attempts at subliminal messaging. The ads work by targeting a specific demographic of the population and selling a desirable fantasy or lifestyle that is supposed to resonate with the potential customer’s identity. For example, J’Adore by Dior is a fragrance ad that uses elements such as actress Charlize Theron, streaks of gold, and shots of high decor to present an appealing fantasy of luxury and class.

Fragrance Ads Follow-up! [Genre Heuristic #2]

 Posted by on Tue, 2/5 at 8:17pm  underappreciated heuristic #2  No Responses »
Feb 052019
 

Identify and Describe Patterns in the Genre’s Features

  1. What content is typically included or excluded? How is the content treated? What sorts of examples are used? What counts as evidence (personal testimony, facts, etc.)?

Evidence in this genre is lacking. The rhetoric behind these ads is based exclusively on the ethos and pathos in the next question. So, the closes thing to evidence is the promise of the appealed lifestyle by the commercial’s protagonist, as they are indeed riding horses and laying on the beach and so can you. All the content is cinematic shots, vague plot progression, hushed voiceovers, and the product reveal at the end of the commercial.

  1. What rhetorical appeals are used? What appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos appear?

Ethos is extremely prominent with celebrity status, brand status, and a cultural status of the artsy commercials, and product itself, as being highbrow. Pathos is present as well since the appeal to a certain fantasy, lifestyle, or identity consists of scenes or imagery that are supposed to resonate with viewers. Logos is eerily absent.

  1. How are texts in the genres structured? What are their parts, and how are they organized?

The commercials are structured consistently! The protagonist of the commercial, that which the viewer is supposed to replace themselves with in fantasy, is introduced at first. They interact with their environment, kiss their lovers, walk dramatically down stairs, etc. Voiceover narration may be present. The commercial ends with a voiceover introduction of the fragrance, its brand, and its bottle design. Print ads feature shots of the protagonist with a short tagline, the bottle design, the name of the fragrance, the brand, and sometimes information on where to find more content, such as via a website or social media page.

  1. In what format are texts of this genre presented? What layout or appearance is common? How long/big is a typical text in this genre?

The format is either a television ad that runs a little over a minute long and print ads are posters, horizontal and vertical, that can occupy any public transit ad space. Layout’s vary by fragrance. Bright colors like light blues and pinks tend to signify young women, when darker and classier colors like navy blue or gold represent women, and darker themes are similarly present in men’s commercials. Print ads follow the same color scheme as their video counterparts. The ads usually contain loud music.

  1. What types of “sentences” do texts in the genre typically use? How long are they? Are they simple or complex, passive or active? Are the sentences varied? Do they share a certain style?

Voiceover narration is simple, maybe one or two sentences, and aim to provide thought pieces for audiences, but sometimes also serve as indirect dialogue by the protagonist, as in their thoughts are being projected but their mouths and faces are focused on intent modeling. The ad shots are usually abundant, each lasting extremely little time, adding to the pool of random association subliminal messaging that can maybe catch the attention of a viewer.

  1. What diction is most common? What types of words (or symbols, images, etc.) are most frequent? Is a type of jargon used? Is slang used? How would you describe a typical writer’s tone?

No vernacular is used, more flowery and fancy language. Esoteric one-liners are key. Words like life, you, feel, etc. are very common. The tone is almost pretentious, but generally very hushed and French. Frequent symbology in the commercials include oceans and water, signs of cleanliness and hygiene, cars and dresses and jewelry and fancy opera houses, signs of luxury, and vaguely erotic shots of ambiguously clothed bodies and kissing, signs of sexuality. In fact, the ‘eye-droop’ is the advertising equivalent of a pizza commercial’s ‘cheese-pull’, where a slice of pizza is pulled, leaving behind tethers of stringy cheese. The eye-droop refers to half-closed heavy eyelids that supposedly reflect sexual satisfaction subliminally.

 

Analyze What These Patterns Reveal About the Situation and Scene

  1. What do these patterns reveal about the genre, its situation, and the people who use it?

The patterns reveal that fragrance ads all boast their uniqueness but follow the same staple formula. The patterns reveal that perhaps vagueness is present not only because it is esoteric, but because it panders to a wider demographic of people, the same way that anyone can interpret a fortune cookie or horoscope to be reflective of themselves. The patterns reveal that these commercials rely almost entirely on ethos, and that alone has more persuasive power than I’m comfortable with. The culture of fragrance dominates the customer’s mindset in purchasing these products and it mostly relies on some deep, artistic value when the ads mass-market vague imagery and ‘subliminal messaging’ to appeal to wide demographics and are only interested in selling their products.

  • What do participants have to know or believe to understand or appreciate the genre?

An understanding of the world of culture may be necessary, but really, I believe that an absence of culture and its consequent glorification by the masses is equally, if not more, effective for selling fragrances. Much like the cars and mansion in the commercials, it’s a sign of luxury and its own ethos.

  • Who is invited into the genre, and who is excluded??

No one is excluded. The commercials hit the masses and pander to wide demographics. Though there is an exclusivity and snootiness to an interest in fragrances, almost an elitism.

  • What roles for writers and readers does it encourage or discourage?

It encourages the role of a customer, art critic, socialite, etc. But mostly of a customer.

  1. What can you learn about the actions being performed through the genre by observing its language patterns?

The language patterns in these ads are actually quite vague, though you can obviously tell the ethos of fragrances and culture as present in how esoteric and artsy they are. Print ad taglines are interesting because they are usually much more direct. The taglines themselves don’t always appear in the video commercials but stem from the same fantasy pitch.

  • How is the subject of the genre treated? What content is considered most important? What content (topics or details) is ignored?

It is treated with prestige and class. The content itself most revolves around lifestyle, wealth, sex appeal, and other fantasies. Interestingly, smell is ignored as content. These ads have people rushing through mud and dirt and deserts, all of which may have a negative impact on selling a fragrance, but it seems to slip under the radar.

  • What values, beliefs, goals, and assumptions are revealed through the genre’s patterns?

Values are obvious when examining the commercial’s fantasy. Usually they appeal to freedom, youth, class, luxury, fame, wealth, etc. Lately fragrance commercials have been pandering to more progressive and niche demographics like the stay-at-home dad. Goals are pretty clear when breaking down all the advertising tricks that are used. Almost every shot has some persuasive elements to it, these involving symbology, imagery, character, etc.

  • What actions does the genre enable? What actions does the genre constrain?

They enable viewers to find connections between the commercials and themselves to the point of a link in identity. This is the hook that secures customers. They also encourage brand loyalty, as every rich grandma will instantly head to Macy’s to find the new reincarnation of Chanel No. 5 when the ad pops up for them. The genre constrains looking elsewhere, as the shock value and uncertainty of the ads are almost magnetic.

 

Trying to understand fragrance commercials! [Genre Heuristic #1]

 Posted by on Sat, 2/2 at 3:09pm  underappreciated heuristic #1  5 Responses »
Feb 022019
 

Introduce Your Genre

  1. Identify your tentative “underappreciated” genre (or subgenre)

Fragrance commercials and their respective print ads, including perfume and cologne towards all different demographics (men, women, younger audiences).

  1. What is interesting to you about this genre? Or, why might it be significant or otherwise worth paying attention to?

They’re interesting, at least originally, because I don’t fully understand them! They’ve always been confusing, and almost funny, and I have no idea whether people are supposed to understand them conceptually or not. Is it all subliminal messaging? Why do so many of them have shots of oceans in them? What do these scripts look like? And as ridiculous as they can be, all fragrance commercials so clearly follow the same tropes and are obviously part of the same genre. Furthermore, they obviously change depending on the demographic they’re targeting, and I think the fantasies that they sell for different people are extremely interesting as a way of tracking social values. There were no ads for stay-at-home dads a decade ago, but now a cologne-worthy fantasy is Jake Gyllenhaal cradling his child. And it’s all wrapped up in this esoteric, possibly snooty medium that I don’t fully understand. It’s persuasive but I’m not sure how or why, which is fascinating because these commercials are so unique and eccentric so I haven’t seen anything else like this rhetorically-speaking, and that’s what I would love to research and find out.

  1. Tentatively, define/describe your corpus (collection of texts/examples)

Television ads for the most recognizable fragrance brands across the last few decades. Chanel, Dior, Calvin Klein, etc. Respective print ads for a handful of the ones examined to examine the differences and draw conclusions about the mediums used.

  1. Provide links (and/or titles) of five samples. (Try to gather samples from more than one “place” [or type] in order to obtain a diverse and accurate representation of the genre. For now, choose samples without significant deviations).

 

  1. Dior J’Adore: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlP0FfHeiH8)
  2. Dior Sauvage: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTkwZ1p0DI)
  3. Eternity by Calvin Klein: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEcbuccnjLc)
  4. Eternity’s Print Ad: (https://tinyurl.com/y8u6upge)
  5. Gucci’s Made To Measure Cologne Print Ad: (https://tinyurl.com/yclmygfa)

 

Describe the Context

  1. Setting: Where (in what context or medium) does the genre appear? How and when is it used? With what other genres does this genre interact? How?

It appears on television, including more premium spots such as in the Super Bowl, and normally runs for a little over a minute, maybe two. Print ads can be seen on billboards, bus stops, all transit and commute for access to the masses. They can also be found in magazines, especially ones relating to fashion, luxury, French culture, etc.

  1. Subject: What topics, issues, ideas, etc. are common to this genre? When people use this genre, what are they communicating about?

The ads themselves talk about luxury, lifestyle, etc. They sell a bottle of perfume. The topic of my genre study is more on the why’s of the ads’ specific rhetorical approach, which includes sexuality, gender, age, social trends, advertising tactics, symbology, etc.

  1. Writers: Who writes the texts in this genre? Are multiple writers possible? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must writers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do writers write the genre (e.g., in teams, on a computer, in a rush, for their profession? for fun?)?

Teams of advertising experts for each brand’s company work together to design ads on a seasonal or yearly basis, presumably with test groups and all that. The ads themselves are short and limited (print ads too), so an expert fragrance advertiser has to be good at delivering a concise and effective persuasive pitch for the product’s branding. They have to be in touch with their target demographic, usually middle-high-class men, women, and younger girls. They probably have to be cultured, which feels like sort of a vague thing to say but it ties in with the whole appeal of an exotic French perfume.

  1. Readers: Who reads the texts in this genre? Is there more than one type of reader for this genre? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must readers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do readers read the genre (e.g., at their leisure, on the run, in waiting rooms)?

It takes a very invested customer to want to seek out these ads, someone interested in fashion and culture and follows their favorite brands and such. Everyone else receives them on mass-channel broadcasts and billboards, while commuting, in waiting rooms, while watching television or some special televised event, perhaps at their leisure if they still frequently buy magazines. There are no special requirements, these commercials are shown to everyone and everyone is a potential customer, though the ads usually target a specific demographic on a case-by-case basis.

  1. Exigency/Purpose(s): Why do writers write this genre, and why do readers read it? What purposes does the genre fulfill for the people who use it?

To sell products and make money. The ads themselves need to sell the bottles of perfume in a roundabout way because you can’t exactly show potential customers your product (outside of hiring salespeople to assault people with samples and social pressure the minute they walk into a Macy’s). And so, the ads sell a lifestyle or fantasy or characterization that’s supposed to resonate with certain viewers/readers, prompting them to buy it and use it and then buy the same brand again throughout the years.