Matt Albano Dr.

E Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric November 14, 2011

When choosing a topic for my visual essay, I looked at what in my life bothers and affects me the most. After a good deal of thought, I stumbled upon the misconceptions that surround New Jersey. As a result of recent media attention from MTV and other outlets, outsiders have developed a perception of the state that differs from its true nature. In particular, television series such as Jersey Shore and True Life have portrayed the region as a guido infested stretch of land thats population focuses on clubbing and drinking. As these shows grow more and more popular, stereotypes continue to build and as a result, New Jersey citizens are affected by harsh and false judgment. As a native of New Jersey with a house merely five blocks away from the filming sites for these television series, these stereotypes have been strong and prevalent, especially in the middle of Indiana. Because of this, I found this project to be a perfect opportunity to clear up any misconceptions and demonstrate the true nature of the New Jersey Shore that I have known and loved my whole life. I feel that the best way to convey my message to my audience is to use a video format, which I produced through iMovie. However, in order to create a video essay, I needed video footage of the region. Thus, I took my video camera around the coastline during Thanksgiving Break and gathered a good amount of footage. I also dug through my computer and found past surf videos I had made. However, these videos were not

enough to convey the true nature of the New Jersey Shore. I then turned to Youtube and a favorite surf movie of mine entitled Dark Fall to obtain more video evidence. From these two sources, I was able to extract meaningful clips that demonstrated both false stereotypes as well as the reality of the region. I then arranged these clips in a manner that juxtaposed contrasting viewpoints. This constituted me placing the clips that coincided with stereotypes at the beginning of the video followed by clips of the reality of the region. This format allowed me to truly identify the discrepancies between media perception and reality and properly support my thesis. I then identified a couple major factors that make the New Jersey Shore unique and set them up as my main points of analysis. They were the fact that the New Jersey Shore has a tight-knit local community, the lack of activity there outside of summer, the lack of guidos, the prominence of surf culture, the unique food, and the gorgeous beaches that exist there. To help build on the argument the video makes, I inserted relevant facts over the clips from sources such as the 2010 Census Data as well as a guidebook to the New Jersey Shore. Furthermore, to set the mood of the video essay, I incorporated relevant songs and muted most video clips. The song Im in New Jersey Bitch accurately conveys the party atmosphere that is prominent throughout New Jersey stereotypes and thus, I found that it fit into my presentation nicely. I also incorporated Soldier On by The Temper Trap into my project during the portion that addresses the reality of the New Jersey Shore. The song carries a gloomy feeling and the guitar background creates a perfect sound that describes the somewhat depressing nature of the region during the off-season. Through the combination of these means of expression into

one work, I was able to convey the overall nature of my argument in a way I am confident will persuade my audience. The overall purpose of this visual essay is to truly convince my audience to set aside previously formed stereotypes on New Jersey and come to accept the state for its unique beauty. It is not as reckless as media outlets portray it. Rather, the New Jersey Shore is a serene environment with a strong core of locals living a traditional beach bum lifestyle. Hopefully my argument will be strong enough to convince viewers to adopt this belief and see New Jersey as a normal state rather than a corrupt amoral region occupied by guidos.