Set 1:
How to make homemade pancakes.
Purpose: As a child I always wanted to help my mom when she was cooking. I chose an instruction set on a pancake recipe because most kids love pancakes. My mom happens to have a delicious homemade pancake recipe that she has passed on to me. I want others to have access to this recipe because it has changed my life when it comes to eating pancakes. Children, who are going to making the pancakes with adult supervision, will be able to make them in a few easy step-by-step instructions. I know when I was a child and I cooked something on my own I had a sense of pride about the finished product, I would love for the children that make the homemade pancakes based on my instructions to feel the same way.
Audience: Children ages 6 and up. They are probably going to have a short attention span, so the instruction set will have to be to the point. Most children are used to color and graphics that they see on television shows and in the illustrations of their favorite books, so my step by step instructions need to have colorful graphics that are illustrations. More than likely the children that will be drawn to instructions on how to make homemade pancakes are going to have been in a kitchen setting before so the kitchen tools and location of a burner will not be foreign.
Context: I imagine that the children will want to make homemade pancakes on a Saturday morning. Saturdays are usually when children sleep in and therefore when they wake up they are going to eat a big breakfast. The children will be at home in their family’s kitchen with adult supervision from someone else other than me. This is why a detailed materials list and warning labels are important. I will not be there to make sure the kitchen has each ingredient and baking tool so parents can go through the list with the children and make sure they have each part. A parent could even go a step further and bring the child along to the grocery store and allow the child to be a part of the shopping for each ingredient. The warning labels are good to notify the parent of possible steps that could cause an injury such as a burn.
Strategies: When I was a child and I wanted to learn how to make homemade pancakes, I would have gravitated more towards a video instruction over a written instruction set. Children today are growing up in such a technology/visual driven world. One of the children I babysit knows how to get on the internet and look up you tube videos. My parent’s generation looks up numbers in the phonebook, I Google phone numbers. So my video set of instructions would be more than likely something that is accessible to my audience.
Medium: I am going the medium of video because this day in age children are more than likely to follow visual instructions compared to a written form of instructions. Auditory and visual stimulation is captured better by video. Having the talent actually go through each step and use each ingredient and tool will be more beneficial than a photo with each step. The visual action taking place will make it easier to follow for a child. I am going to have some upbeat music in the background, to convey the idea of fun and cooking. As far as the talent, I am going to have a family friend who is in elementary school join me in the video. The inclusion of a child in the video will help a child who watching the video relate, and give them the confidence that they too can cook pancakes.
Arrangement: A kitchen will be the setting of the video. I will go through each material needed, starting with ingredients, and then kitchen tools. The camera will zoom in as I point out the different ingredients and kitchen tools. Then I will slowly move through the set of instructions as my assistant (the family friend) caries out each instruction. We will end with the finished product and different ways to garnish it, ending with a shot of us enjoying the pancakes as an endorsement of their quality. All of these choices will help the instruction to be in order and something that a child can move through.
Testing: Before the filming begins, I will have my mom run through the recipe and steps with my assistant (who is in elementary school) to make sure that each step works. A rehearsal of the instructions will allow be to receive feedback if changes need to be made the instructions to make them more kid friendly. I will follow up the rehearsal by asking the assistant if anything was confusing or there was something she didn’t understand in any of the steps. This process will help me to better shape my purpose.
set 1 response
The medium is the rhetorical element that is covered most thoroughly. You don't just state that you will be using video. You expand further by explaining how the video will be used, as well as other elements of medium (music, talent, etc).
Strategies is the weakest element. You could go on further to explain what strategies you will use to keep the reader's attention. You mention that video is the best way to do that, but how exactly will you carry this out? This is important especially when you are dealing with childrem. But overall there aren't many weak points in your rhetorical analysis. It is very thorough. Nice job!
Similary to my instruction set, you are writting for an unexperienced audience. You have to present information in a way that can be understood by someone who hasn't made pancakes before. I am encountering the issue in my project.
If it were for an older, wiser audience a video may not be necessary or effective. To someone who is familiar with a kitchen setting and cooking in general would probablt prefer written instructions.
feedback.
In this draft design your Medium is what is strongest. I love the idea of increasing your ethos and having a child in the video!
In Audience remember that 6 years old is young. This may very well be their first times cooking. " More than likely the children that will be drawn to instructions on how to make homemade pancakes are going to have been in a kitchen setting before so the kitchen tools and location of a burner will not be foreign."
Once again, we are simlar in that we have a step by step process and we both are dealing with experienced and not experienced people.
you grasp this concept well.