Power: Process Analysis

The Video

• Claim: Power can be destructive.
• Reason: That which has power over us desires control, and forces us into submission.
• Warrant: I focus on the government, money, fear, abuse, words, and the media.
• Audience: This is intended for anyone; power affects us all. 

The Pictures

• I started with a picture of a weak arm and a strong arm that are wrestling. This is to demonstrate power in general, which is often associated with strength.
• The next series focuses on the Government and Corporate America. It can have a negative influence because money becomes the driving force behind decisions, and we become "puppets" to it (4th pic).
• Next I focus on fear. I use dictatorship and terrorism to demonstrate this. The easiest way to achieve this is by using well known cases: Hitler and 9-11. They both demonstrate how power through fear can be destructive because they led to the Holocaust and the falling of the World Trade Centers. 
• I tie the 9-11 attacks to war, which is what followed. This shows how the effects terrorism are powerful, but also how war is often associated with power (wanting dominance in some way) and is destructive (shows the deaths, and the emotional turmoil).
• Domestic violence is the next focus. Sometimes in relationships when men think they are powerful or want to prove they are powerful, they revert to abuse. A parent may do the same to a child. I really like the of pictures with the arm coming out of the screaming man's mouth, and the child being choked by a hand made up of hurtful words, because they are a representation of how powerful words can be. There is also physical abuse represented in the pictures. 
• Media can be powerful as well. I focused on its influence on girls, mostly. The media portrays what "beauty" is and how a girl should look, even though it's generally unattainable. This forces girls into eating disorders and depressions. I portrayed this by showing girls looking at different media sources, followed by the effects it can have.
• I concluded with two pictures. The first one is a picture of a man who looks like he has ill-intentions and is holding a city. He has power as he holds the city like he owns it, and can change/mold it, but he is power-hungry which can be destructive (since it seems he will change it with only himself in mind). The very last picture is a word cloud representing power; I thought this would be a good way to sum up my video because it gives words that mean power, words that can lead one to power, and words that describe the effects of power.

• I put the picture sequences in this order because it starts out big with corporations and the government, and ends with more individual effects. 
• Some of the transitions I use were more thought out. For example: the picture of the Twin Towers gets transitioned away from with a "torn" look to demonstrate the strain it caused. From the war picture to the dead soldier pictures, I use a transition that mimics a clock motion to show time lapse. The sequence with the arm coming out of a man's screaming mouth all have a different "dissolve" transition to show how words can deteriorate a person. Also, after the magazine picture, I use a "page flip" transition. These hopefully give a subtle extra effect as you view them.
• For the structure, my goal was to first portray the source of power, and then elaborate on what the effects are (how it's destructive).

The Song

• I chose the song War Machine by Fightstar.
• One reason this song is effective is that it builds: power is something people (or things) rise to, and its effects are often climactic. This song gives that feeling because it starts off quiet and there are few instruments. By the end of the video, it's stronger because there are more instruments and the singing is more intense (the chorus is more wild but the video never gets to it. I feel like that worked out for the better because I don't think you can ever be fully satisfied with the amount of power you have, and thus it never fully builds...).
• I also chose this song for its lyrics. War Machine is about how some people go to the extreme and put themselves in harm's way to attain something, but they are never happy with it. This describes power. There is such a want to attain it, that extreme measures are taken to reach or keep it...no matter the destruction on the way. And yet, despite all of it, it's never enough.
• Here are the lyrics of the song (just the part that's included in the video):
• Some of us will die alone.
  Some of us will never reach the end of the road.
  It isn't enough.
  Some of us will never know the meaning of trust.
  Some of us will feed off all the people who give.
  It's never enough.
  
  Are we a race of animals who beg, steal, and chew on the bones that are left
  from the people who cared?
  
  We'll beg the kids forget your lessons, raise up your guard, protect your honor.