"The journey is never ending. There's always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what's right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment."
-Antonio Brown
English 149 Networked and Multimedia Storytelling was a class where I had to essentially expect the unexpected. Professor Anderson really pushed me to explore topics and mediums I never would have if I had not taken this course (especially audio projects). This was also the first class where I did not receive a grade until the end of the semester. This made me quite nervous at first because I didn't know if the work I was producing was worthy of an A. However, this aspect of the class later became very freeing. By not having to worry so much about my assignment grades, I was able to focus solely on my projects. College kids sometimes get so caught up in the grades that classwork becomes just stressful tasks with little meaning. By putting my grades on the backburner I was able to push myself to focus on simply editing my projects over and over. This process of revising is like reading a good book over again. You notice parts that you don't ever remember reading or details that have more meaning. By being allowed to continue editing my projects I never felt like I was beating myself up about mistakes in my projects. This class taught me to push myself and continually examine my projects from different perspectives. The final projects that I have included in this portfolio can still be edited in the future. And I think that's the beauty of multimedia storytelling. There's never a clear end to something because times and people are always rapidly changing.
Learning about composing narratives across differing platforms and media helped solidify the idea that communication is not simply conveyed through words. On the first day of class, Professor Anderson told us that some English majors or professors may argue that this class is not equivalent to one that gives formal essays or poetry analysis projects. However, after completing this semester I would argue that communication can be delivered the same it's just packaged differently. And with the internet being so widespread, it would be a waste to not explore how to produce information effectively and efficiently in unconventional forms. The core ideas are the same but innovation is what allows for so many new possibilities that can truly transform the material to be even more exciting. I hope you enjoy looking through the pieces that I have created over this semester and are able to see my perspective and hopes for the projects through my lens as the creator.
-Casie Hahn
Video Poem:
The video poem projects stood out to me amongst my other projects because of how many different paths I could have taken my final piece. I always found poetry hard to consume when annotating and analyzing them. But this project brought poems to life for me. I have a background in studio art and I am currently a graphic design major so I loved the endless possibilities that were available to me. I spent a lot of time choosing videos to screen rip that would create a constant flowing narrative. But I also realized that images weren't everything. Music was a very important factor in portraying the tone of the poem. This first draft represents my entrance into the world of multimedia and editing.
Draft
I was not sure how the draft to my video poem would be received. My biggest concerns were about battling the balance between ambiguous visual representation and literal translation of visuals. Because some poems by nature are hard to understand, I did not want to convolute the meaning too much by having too many questionable areas. I sought to balance the need for open-ended creativity while also keeping in mind digestibility. I also had to keep in mind that many viewers would most likely only watch the video through once. Unlike how people mull over words when analyzing poetry, lines are only given a few seconds to be flashed across screens in this medium.
Video Poem Revision
A lot of the feedback I got dealt with the issue that I had initially worried about. Professor Anderson made suggestions about areas where I might have been too literal. I think in anticipating this challenge I may have overcompensated a bit and put in a few too many literal scenes in my draft especially the scene of a hand ripping a plant from the ground. I decided to search for a more abstract way to narrate the poem and found abstract videos of light that really caught my eye. I used this is as a thread to tie the piece together which I thought fit perfectly as a metaphor to the son in the poem whose mind is referred to as "avenues of light." Its contrast gave to the realistic images gave the poem's subject depth as we seek to see the child that the mother is describing.
Social Media Postings:
The social media section of our class was very interesting to me. I never considered Instagram as a tool for storytelling other than the normal social feed of people's highlight reel. However, my eyes were soon opened to the possibilities that this young platform possesses. Although I am a part of the generation during which social media really took off, I never knew its real value. I considered the places where people who were more inclined to display their lives would go to share their thoughts in a status or an image of what they ate for lunch. But through research, readings and our projects, I was able to see that it's important to understand our culture and what is being used to create a widespread impact because they are what are truly shaping our conversations.
Instagram Meme 1
I found making memes to be quite challenging. I am also not the most well versed and up to date in the meme culture so creating my own was quite the project. This was the first project which related our projects to the grander scale of society. I also learned that there is a science behind the humor in memes and there is actually a pause that the brain processes the joke before reacting. In my first meme, I drew inspirations from memes that deal with conveying mood. I photoshoped a crying baby in space to convey being distressed and lost in space about the material that is covered in my media law class lecture. One area of weakness I took note of after producing this meme is that it is not relatable to a wide audience. Only journalism students at UNC might really get this meme to the fullest.
Instagram Meme 2
My second meme, on the other hand, is very relatable to most people. I split the composition into halves to juxtapose the opposite seasons which are both breaks from school. And with my young boy shrugging his shoulder straddling the divide I sought to create the sense of equality. This reflects his lack of preference to either season, because the most important thing he is concerned about it getting out of school.
Animated GIF Meme
The animated GIF meme was easier to compose for me. Somehow the movement helped aid the piece in terms of adding to the humor and also explaining the written joke. I had a lot of fun transforming this video into a GIF because by looping the very short 2-3 second clip of a video and overlaying text on top, a new narrative can be told. Words prove to be really powerful here because they can change the whole meaning of the piece. If I were to have instead said, "ready for finals season" then the GIF's whole meaning would change even though the visuals stayed the same.
Animated GIF Art
The animated GIF art really allowed me to tap into my creative side. When reading about GIF art for class I was really shocked by the pieces that professionals make. I also associated GIFs as simple lower quality short loops with a funny or corny joke. But that initial impression is so far from other GIF creations. Some professional GIF art had so many details and movements it almost appeared to be an animation. I channelled that artist mindset and found a haiku to overlay on my GIF art. This reminded me of my video poem. It was really interesting to use a similar technique and process for a completely different end product.
Instagram Story 1
For my Instagram story, I tried to create a narrative that tied all the separate postings together. I began with a "hook" to introduce and make sense of the following pictures that I uploaded. I chose decadent pictures to hopefully get the viewer salivating and imagining what they should eat for dinner. But pulling from the meme humor I ended my story with a sad picture of dining hall food. By the time I began this project I was able to pull different perspectives and techniques that I used in other projects as small accents to my story. The more I began composing the more I realized that critical thinking, planning, editing, humor and culture can really be applied in all forms of communication.
Instagram Story 2
My second story was a simpler idea. I wanted to create a short autobiography of all of the places I've lived before. I scavenged the web for drone shots from all the cities to get an aerial view of them. I used these clips to build cohesion to my story and also give more weight to the narrative since the only words I used were the names of the locations. I thought this composition would have more of an impact than still pictures because the videos give life to the places and make it seem like the viewer is traveling through the different cities as I once had. In contrast, I think videos of food for my Instagram story 1 would have been unnecessary because people begin to crave food just at first glance. These are the kinds of thought processes I encountered when creating my multimedia projects. There is no true right answer when composing, but I searched for the most effective and powerful ways to tell stories.
Audio Essay:
I was the least excited for the audio section of the course because of my heavy reliance on visuals to tell stories. From my limited experience with video projects or skits of any kind, I remember disliking the sound of my recorded voice. This was another project that really shattered my previous expectations. I really enjoyed this project to my utmost surprise. Once I had conducted all my research as I would have for any other essay I wrote out a script that replaced the formal essay portion. The fun part was finding my "voice" and understanding that these recordings needed to be more conversational in order to retain the listener's attention. I found that recording my writing was as awkward as I envisioned it to be and I had the freedom to put as much life into the recording as I could through the inflection and delivery of my tone.
Draft
It was interesting that my initial reservations for this project had to do with the sound of my voice because when I listened to my audio essay I did not have major issues with it. The biggest feedback I was given for my draft was to include ambient sounds and music in my audio essay.
Audio Essay Revision
I see a big difference between my first draft and my revision just because of the music. I also chose ambient sounds for objects that are normally identified by their corresponding sounds and for places that I felt needed another element to the narrative. Examples of these are the Pacman music and the ambient sounds of children playing outside on the playground. All three together create a more holistic experience. Music and ambient sounds aid the narration to the point where it's easier to draw an image in your mind with them.
Podcast:
The podcast was so different from the audio essay. I touch on some of the biggest differences between the two in my second reflection video, but I think the podcasts greatest strength is its aspect of collaboration. When creating media to put out into the world, often times we don't know others' opinions till everything is finished. But by collaborating with a partner for the podcast I was able to get feedback a minute after I expressed a topic that I researched. This called on my critical thinking skills to not only think for myself but predict my partner's possible reactions to the topic as well to form the potential path of the conversation. I enjoyed this project because it felt the most natural. The substance was still present and backed by research but it was the most real in terms of people authentically composing and essentially releasing a close to the raw version of the project. This juxtaposes the manicured presence people procure on social media that I touch on in the podcast.
Podcast Final
Portfolio Videos:
The portfolio videos were the all-encompassing projects. I used similar techniques in the creation process as I did for the video poem by screen ripping visuals. It also pointed back to my audio projects with the use of a prerecorded voiceover that plays over the video. I found these reflection videos especially useful when I watched my peers'. For a majority of my classwork this semester, I was focused on my projects and trying to constantly improve them. But it's difficult at times to see your own project in a new way after staring at it for so long. But through watching my classmates' reflections, I saw the vast array of approaches that came naturally to others. This highlighted our diversity which I think is really powerful in our society and is evident in the multimedia that is produced. These videos allowed me to look back and really take a moment to reflect on all my stylistic choices. And after sifting through my process, I was able to find a few nuggets of information that I formed into takeaways from my projects. I think this was the most valuable part and these lessons on critical thinking, editing/revision, collaboration and etc. have shaped my portfolio and narrative of my experience.
See my storyboard for my first portfolio video
See my storyboard for my second portfolio video
Reflection on audio projects
Comments:
The website we used in our class was a very efficient means to house all of our class' work. By all being on the same platform, we were able to access each others' work and bounce ideas off one another. I think this aspect to the class was a huge success. It not only created a collaborative atmosphere but it inspired me to see readings from others' points of view. I enjoyed the aspect of celebrating other peoples' work as well and giving any constructive feedback that I had.
- Peer Reviews
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Do Not Stand at My Gave and Weep peer review
Invictus peer review
Alone in a Room peer review
- Reading Comments
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Key Takeaways:
English 149 has had an impact on my perspective on what communication and multimedia truly is. I used to lean towards the traditional side perferring written words to audio or other forms of communication. But I see the need for these new ways of relaying information. We can reach younger audiences, people from different backgrounds or industries and even hold attention spans longer. Our society is changing and it does not have to be a battle of labeling the new as bad or good. There is always the need for improvement and innovation and with that enters the multimedia landscape. After seeing first hand the amount of work which goes on behind the scenes to each project, I can squash any argument that belittles multimedia communication in comparison to traditional text. Different platforms, techniques and compositions should be valued for their diversity. Because all these new platforms and projects stem from different perspectives which ultimately makes our world a more colorful place. Courses like English 149 can make a stand for these ideas and shape the conversation in a positive way like it has for me.