Week 1, session 1

Today started off with a lecture presenting us with the project.
This paper is looking at ihi and wehi; complementary terms associated with emotional and psychological behaviour. Ihi can be described as an individual’s essential force, charisma, power or charm – which emanates throughout the creative process. Wehi, on the other hand, highlights the internalised feelings that occur in response to ihi and is taken to mean the emotional response on the part of the viewer.

We were introduced to visual rhetoric (tools of persuasion):
Juxtaposition - pairing of 2 elements
Rhetoric - persuasion in pursuit of an outcome
Metonymy - language of colour and its symbolism
Parody - humorous imitation in a 'mocking' a style
Homage - creation using a style in a way that pays respect to the original
Subversion - manipulation of an existing design
Satire - use of irony, humour, or sarcasm
Pastiche - imitation in a celebratory style
Dynamism - use of diagonal lines, texture, pattern to infer movement

We then moved back to our class area and were put into groups where we were given a set of images to discuss and determine the visual rhetoric. This felt like being thrown right into the deep end and was quite difficult, it definitely helped to be in a group to discuss as we all remembered different elements from the lecture.

Jacquie and Phoebe then introduced us to our topics for this paper; the NZ flag change, private/public schooling.
Tbh, I wasn't exactly inspired by either of these topics. Neither of them were something I was personally invested in. So when we were put into teams to prepare a debate I wasn't all that phased by what I had to argue.
I was put on the team that was pro changing the NZ flag. We all got together and put pen to paper to come up with ideas and finalised 3 points (1 for each speaker). Our 3 points are; cultural inclusion, national identity, and global identity. Whilst we were discussing I did a little research on my phone and found a bit about Canada's flag change in the 60's and so offered up that I would be happy to take on Global Identity. I am not very keen on public speaking but I could see that most of our group was uncomfortable with the idea and I felt like even if I was nervous I could get a strong point across in the minute and a half allocated. We created a facebook page to help each other gather information and prepare for the debate tomorrow.