Point of View: The digital story is ultimately from my point of view, but it will be interwoven with almost a third-person perspective to give a different effect.
Dramatic Question: The dramatic question of my digital story is, "When I was younger my dad would lay out our report cards on the table as my brother, sister, and I would go up one-by-one to let him scrutinize every grade and comment that was included on that single piece of paper."
Emotional Content: My story is about a bad relationship, which I feel that a fair amount of people can relate to. The emotional content includes love, betrayal, and the courage to walk away. It forces you to answer the question, "When is enough, enough?"
Soundtrack: I really want to narrate my story, so the music might be a faint melody in the background. I intend to use an ambient soundtrack that is available for free on Youtube.
Economy: I wrote out a script, but realized that it is actually quite lengthy. This would probably distract the audience and not create the emotional impact that I would like. I am working on cutting my script down, and incorporating some poignant quotes.
Pacing: I'm striving for a happy medium, and plan on having imagery that pans and zooms as I narrate my story. I'll incorporate images of nature.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Note Card Confessional
"As I see it, the best things schools can do for kids is to help them learn how to distinguish useful talk from bullshit..."
"Such moral and ethical questions are truly meaningful to young people who are learning to balance their natural idealism with a deeper understanding of social and institutional power as well as the complexities of human nature."
"Unless we are vigilant, we tend to detach information content from its source, forgetting where it came from."
Hobbs, Renee (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom.
Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Reflecting on our Love/Hate Relationship with Media
After reading everybody's comments and ideas about media, I discovered that the central, basic idea exists-there is good as well as bad. Visual and digital media seemed to have the most opinionated comments out of the four types of media. I think this can be attributed to the fact that visual and digital media are omnipotent and encompass almost every aspect of our 21st century lives today.
Since the title of this course includes the words digital media, I found it appropriate to describe my love/hate relationship with it. Can you even imagine a day completely unplugged? I honestly cannot remember the last full 24 hours I went without some sort of digital or social media-it was probably a time when I didn't have service or a Wifi connection.
So, I love how connected people are as a result of digital media. In my opinion, it's done very interesting things for humanity. I think it enhanced our need to be social, but then it has also made us less social during real-life interaction. Case in point, some families sit down at the dinner table but can't seem to put down their smartphones and get off Facebook. I find it a bit ironic.
However, digital media has done great things for society. It gives people a voice that might not have had a voice in another time. It has allowed for self-expression, creativity, and individuality. It has opened a whole new world for education and tools that can be used within the educational setting. Almost every form of digital and social media can be used within the classroom. This gives all students an advantage in the increasingly technological world, especially students from our more rural areas.
I truly believe that for every negative effect we see from social media, something positive will offset it.
Since the title of this course includes the words digital media, I found it appropriate to describe my love/hate relationship with it. Can you even imagine a day completely unplugged? I honestly cannot remember the last full 24 hours I went without some sort of digital or social media-it was probably a time when I didn't have service or a Wifi connection.
So, I love how connected people are as a result of digital media. In my opinion, it's done very interesting things for humanity. I think it enhanced our need to be social, but then it has also made us less social during real-life interaction. Case in point, some families sit down at the dinner table but can't seem to put down their smartphones and get off Facebook. I find it a bit ironic.
However, digital media has done great things for society. It gives people a voice that might not have had a voice in another time. It has allowed for self-expression, creativity, and individuality. It has opened a whole new world for education and tools that can be used within the educational setting. Almost every form of digital and social media can be used within the classroom. This gives all students an advantage in the increasingly technological world, especially students from our more rural areas.
I truly believe that for every negative effect we see from social media, something positive will offset it.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Week 3 Activity #3
Vanessa's Digital Story
Vanessa has such a great voice for storytelling-her voice sounds so laid-back and unscripted. The informal tone makes you feel as if you're sitting right in front of her as she tells the story of her upbringing. I love the elements of humor that she has woven into her story, especially near the end where she says, "We grow organically and raise free-range chickens, but we also eat at McDonald's and Burger King."
I really don't have any criticism for her video, but I guess it may have jumped around in the beginning. The middle towards the end seemed to be much more coherent.
Jared's Digital Story
Jared truly knows how to paint a picture with his words. He is a very descriptive storyteller and has a knack for creating powerful imagery within a mere couple of sentences. The art of travel can open some pretty big doors, as is evident in Jared's digital story. The only criticism that I would have for him would be the audio quality-there seemed to be some static or something in the background.
Amber's Digital Story
Amber's story was touching. Even though she didn't use her voice, it was heard throughout the emotional story about her grandmother and how she served as a daily inspiration to her. The choice of music complemented the story's tone as well. The only suggestion that I would have for her would probably be to reevaluate the brevity of such an emotional story.
Vanessa has such a great voice for storytelling-her voice sounds so laid-back and unscripted. The informal tone makes you feel as if you're sitting right in front of her as she tells the story of her upbringing. I love the elements of humor that she has woven into her story, especially near the end where she says, "We grow organically and raise free-range chickens, but we also eat at McDonald's and Burger King."
I really don't have any criticism for her video, but I guess it may have jumped around in the beginning. The middle towards the end seemed to be much more coherent.
Jared's Digital Story
Jared truly knows how to paint a picture with his words. He is a very descriptive storyteller and has a knack for creating powerful imagery within a mere couple of sentences. The art of travel can open some pretty big doors, as is evident in Jared's digital story. The only criticism that I would have for him would be the audio quality-there seemed to be some static or something in the background.
Amber's Digital Story
Amber's story was touching. Even though she didn't use her voice, it was heard throughout the emotional story about her grandmother and how she served as a daily inspiration to her. The choice of music complemented the story's tone as well. The only suggestion that I would have for her would probably be to reevaluate the brevity of such an emotional story.
A Story About Love, Loss, & Lemon Pies
Making Pies
Point of View
The story is told through Allison's point of view, the granddaughter. It is her voice that you hear.
Dramatic Question
What do you do when life hands you lemons? (I LOVE this theme, by the way.) The narrator goes on to say that whenever her grandfather would feel sorry for himself, he would bake a lemon pie for someone who needed it more than he did. How beautiful is that?
When the narrator's grandmother eventually passed away, her grandfather dedicated his life to community service projects. And he also made lemon pies.
Emotional Content
This story is so easy to relate to because it covers love & loss, something that we all have experienced at one time or another. The narrator tells a deeply personal story about her family and upbringing that is woven with elements of love and altruism.
Being a self-proclaimed baker, I was drawn to the story by the title and truly appreciated the metaphor that is present throughout. I think that this digital story is such a beautiful example of what students can do with the tools necessary to tell their own stories.
Week 3 Posting #1
Element #1: Take a look at the two examples and see if you can identify the purpose behind each story. What is the point of view in each? Whose voice do you hear?
1. The purpose behind the first video was to show the process of making salt, and how it is a part of their culture. It was really hard for me to hear the story (I think there was something wrong with either the video or my computer), but it seemed like children were narrating the story.
2. The purpose of the second video was to demonstrate an extended elementary science project about maintaining a fish tank. The point of view seemed to be an observer that was narrating the experiment and process.
Element #2: See if you can find a dramatic question in the examples for this section. A dramatic question is posed by the narrator at the beginning of the story to create tension and draw in the audience. A dramatic question is usually not an actual question that the narrator poses; rather, it is an intriguing statement that causes the viewers to ask themselves a question.'I was seven years old when I met my father' is an example of a dramatic question. It hooks you in and motivates you to listen to the story until its conclusion. Is the question resolved in each movie or are you left without a resolution?
1. In the first example the narrator begins by asking, "Are you making our island ugly?" The dramatic question is followed by children unloading junk in what appears to be a dumping site. You later see several images of actual garbage in areas of the island. At the end, the children ask you to do your part in cleaning up the island.
2. This video was particularly difficult for me to hear and understand, but I gleaned that the children were suggesting we should only fish for what we will need and use. They told an old story of how a woman fished so much that she ran out of salt to salt her fish. The moral of the story was to simply take what you and your family need.
Element #3: See if you can identify the emotional paradigms behind these stories.
1. The first video is about teen depression and suicide. The emotional paradigms that seem to be present are love & loneliness, and acceptance & rejection.
2. The second video is about the lack of knowledge and wisdom that is traditionally received from grandparents. It talks about picking up the pieces where they may have left off, despite the fact that they're no longer around.
3. The third video seems to focus on the paradigm of good and evil-looks can be very deceiving. I found the depictions of the "stranger" very interesting in response to the student abduction. It sends a powerful message to young children.
Element #4: What impact that the voice plays on the overall effect of the story?
1. The elderly woman in the video uses various voice intonations to indicate that she is telling a personal story-it is not scripted. This gives the content a more personal and laid-back feel.
2. Even though I could not understand the language of the singing or narration, the sounds of the childrens' voices made it more personal than hearing an adult's voice would have.
Element #5: What impact does the music have on the emotional content or purpose of the story?
1. Based on the pictures, the video seems to be about a type of conservation society or something of that nature? The soundtrack is a native song that lends to the personal feeling of the land and their culture.
Element #6: Look at the examples in this section and consider the decisions the authors made about length of clips, types of transitions and sequence of events. Are you able (as a viewer) to fill in the missing pieces? Give an example?
1. The transitions are almost like the pages within a book. They aren't too short or too long, and keep you engaged. It was really hard for me to hear the narration, and I couldn't seem to fill in the missing pieces.
2. The second video was a little easier for me to understand. The girl feels crowded within her large family and deeply wants some space of her own.
3. The length of time these images were depicted seemed to be a bit too long-it didn't draw you in as much as the first video, where the images were actually moving and transitioning continuously. The difference in images were also stark, and it was kind of difficult to follow the story.
Element #7: How does the narrator use their voice to pace the story? Give a specific example.
1. Near the end of the story, the narrator is using their voice to pace the story and tell people how to protect themselves in the event of an earthquake.
2. I really liked this digital story-it contained several elements of humor such as when the kids changed the library sign to a "cafeteria" sign. The teacher is depicted in several different teaching outfits, showing that she is a true jack-of-all trades. I preferred this story because I am a highly visual person and prefer to read things on a screen, rather than listening to narration. The pacing was more of a visual pacing in this instance.
1. The purpose behind the first video was to show the process of making salt, and how it is a part of their culture. It was really hard for me to hear the story (I think there was something wrong with either the video or my computer), but it seemed like children were narrating the story.
2. The purpose of the second video was to demonstrate an extended elementary science project about maintaining a fish tank. The point of view seemed to be an observer that was narrating the experiment and process.
Element #2: See if you can find a dramatic question in the examples for this section. A dramatic question is posed by the narrator at the beginning of the story to create tension and draw in the audience. A dramatic question is usually not an actual question that the narrator poses; rather, it is an intriguing statement that causes the viewers to ask themselves a question.'I was seven years old when I met my father' is an example of a dramatic question. It hooks you in and motivates you to listen to the story until its conclusion. Is the question resolved in each movie or are you left without a resolution?
1. In the first example the narrator begins by asking, "Are you making our island ugly?" The dramatic question is followed by children unloading junk in what appears to be a dumping site. You later see several images of actual garbage in areas of the island. At the end, the children ask you to do your part in cleaning up the island.
2. This video was particularly difficult for me to hear and understand, but I gleaned that the children were suggesting we should only fish for what we will need and use. They told an old story of how a woman fished so much that she ran out of salt to salt her fish. The moral of the story was to simply take what you and your family need.
Element #3: See if you can identify the emotional paradigms behind these stories.
1. The first video is about teen depression and suicide. The emotional paradigms that seem to be present are love & loneliness, and acceptance & rejection.
2. The second video is about the lack of knowledge and wisdom that is traditionally received from grandparents. It talks about picking up the pieces where they may have left off, despite the fact that they're no longer around.
3. The third video seems to focus on the paradigm of good and evil-looks can be very deceiving. I found the depictions of the "stranger" very interesting in response to the student abduction. It sends a powerful message to young children.
Element #4: What impact that the voice plays on the overall effect of the story?
1. The elderly woman in the video uses various voice intonations to indicate that she is telling a personal story-it is not scripted. This gives the content a more personal and laid-back feel.
2. Even though I could not understand the language of the singing or narration, the sounds of the childrens' voices made it more personal than hearing an adult's voice would have.
Element #5: What impact does the music have on the emotional content or purpose of the story?
1. Based on the pictures, the video seems to be about a type of conservation society or something of that nature? The soundtrack is a native song that lends to the personal feeling of the land and their culture.
Element #6: Look at the examples in this section and consider the decisions the authors made about length of clips, types of transitions and sequence of events. Are you able (as a viewer) to fill in the missing pieces? Give an example?
1. The transitions are almost like the pages within a book. They aren't too short or too long, and keep you engaged. It was really hard for me to hear the narration, and I couldn't seem to fill in the missing pieces.
2. The second video was a little easier for me to understand. The girl feels crowded within her large family and deeply wants some space of her own.
3. The length of time these images were depicted seemed to be a bit too long-it didn't draw you in as much as the first video, where the images were actually moving and transitioning continuously. The difference in images were also stark, and it was kind of difficult to follow the story.
Element #7: How does the narrator use their voice to pace the story? Give a specific example.
1. Near the end of the story, the narrator is using their voice to pace the story and tell people how to protect themselves in the event of an earthquake.
2. I really liked this digital story-it contained several elements of humor such as when the kids changed the library sign to a "cafeteria" sign. The teacher is depicted in several different teaching outfits, showing that she is a true jack-of-all trades. I preferred this story because I am a highly visual person and prefer to read things on a screen, rather than listening to narration. The pacing was more of a visual pacing in this instance.
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