Free Writing

Free writing is a technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard for spelling or grammar. Following on from analysing tone of voice we were given a topic and 2 minutes to scribble down the first thing that came to our heads. 

Topic 1- Who I Am
my full name is sophie jane howells and i am welsh i am very proud of where i come from, i can speak welsh, not fluently, but well enough to understand what people are saying. i love living away from home but speak to my parents almost every day. i enjoy films and really want to see filth hopefully i can get a job and afford more tattoos. 

(obviously informal, repetitive, messy) 

Topic 2- Death of the High Street
if i'm honest i had no clue the highstreet was even dying, walking through Cardiff, Topshop is always heaven. I dont really go out to the high street a lot mainly because I am skint, after my student loan all going on my accommodation, as long as shops still have websites then I'm not that bothered, although I will miss the occasional wander through the shops, feeling blinded then all of a sudden leaving with 4 bags of clothes, how? Rather than crying over the descent we should all just be happy the internet and vintage shops are still on the uprise. 

(reflective, aggressive, stupid, informal)

Topic 3- World without Fashion magazines
as a fashion communication student the downfall of the magazine should be a catastrophic blow for the industry but as myself, am i really not that bothered? yes it is always lovely to have a glossy print out in front of you but for the sake of the magazine it's best to just get it digital, the amount of magazine i just deface with drawings and notes you could probably save the Amazon rainforest. with the decrease of magazines we can all hope the book industry will rise, printed, thick and collectable pieces of art.

(opinionated, informal, reflective)

Our last free writing task was to pick 1 of the last 2 topics and free write as if writing for your previously chosen magazine...

Vice- Death of the high street
The death of the high street sounds like a monotonous b & w film conveying the shops coming alive, as if like Godzilla, and us as a consumer shooting them down. describing to you the death of an industry that has been strong for the past 10-15 years makes it all seem so boring. Get out, live a little or spend the next 10-15 years in front of a computer searching and sieving through online boutique stores in the comfort of your own home.

(argumentative, informal, aggressive)

In conclusion i highly enjoyed free writing and will definitely do it again. 

Tone of Voice- Vice

Within our recent seminar we were asked to bring along a magazine that we religiously read, as I am not a huge reader of magazines (needs to change), I cautiously picked one from the pile at the front of the seminar group that I was unfamiliar with. I think that picking a magazine that I did not know would be more of a challenge and I would be able to use my first impression of it to analyse its content deeply. I picked up the magazine Vice.

We were then asked to choose an article at random and analyse it's tone of voice to establish the magazines content and audience. I looked at the article 'A Semi-transient Expert on Hobos' written by Liz Armstrong, an interview with film maker and photographer Bill Daniel who documents the graffiti that hobos write on freight trains. I established that it was full of colloquial language and came across as chatty, conversational, humorous and laid back even before the interview had begun. It was a reflective interview (not a narrative) and the interviewer was very different than most. A lot of taboo language was used "I fucked up his plans" this to me signifies that the audience of the magazine is older and more mature.

Bill Daniel

From the article and flicking through the magazine I came to the conclusion that it is a photography, art, common interest, political and lifestyle magazine for 18+ audience with immature minds as you must need to be laid back to understand the language and tone of voice which was being used for some serious articles and interviews. This activity helped me to realise to use the same technique for analysing brands, make connections? What attitude do they have? What are they trying to represent?