Assessing Tone in Media

Digital Media:
Digitized content (text, graphics, audio,
and video) that can be transmitted over
the internet or computer networks.
Assessing formality and tone in digital media.
Formal Tone
Audience
Assess the formality and tone of the following youtube videos:
- advanced vocabulary
- longer and more complex sentences
- more serious tone
- use "one" instead of "I"
- used in legal document, scholarly articles, and technical reports
- more serious, perhaps classical, music played for commercials. Lighting may be darker.

Example: "As the price of five dollars was reasonable, I decided to make the purchase without further thought."
Informal Tone
- people who watch or listen to a television or radio program, commercial or video

- intended readership for a piece of writing


Examples: toddlers, elementary students, middle school students, high school students, teenagers, young adults, adults, elderly, gender, social class, age, and ethnic background.
Toy Story Trailer:
- uses everyday language
- relaxed style of writing
- more personal tone
- contractions are used
- use of pronouns I and you
- used in e-mails, texts, social media; abbreviations and acronyms used
- happy and upbeat music, and bright colors

Example: "It was like, five bucks, so I was like, 'okay'."
Purpose
- author's intent or reason for writing
- to persuade
- to inform
- to sell
- to tell a story
- to encourage
Technique
- Literary techniques are tools, methods and a part of author's style to express and give more meaning to their writing
- used to influence the tone and message
- special effects
- camera angles
- lighting
- music
Glory Trailer:
Working independently, select a piece of media of the genre of your choice (using an ipad or laptop). Identify the tone, audience, purpose, techniques and language used to convey the tone. Be prepared to share this with the rest of the class.
Guide to level of formality:
Informal
Formal
3
1
5