“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.”
-Henry Green
ENGL 149 was far from what I expected from an English class. We didn't read hefty books and annotate, we didn't write long papers and we didn't have in depth discussions about the greater themes of a work. However, the work that I did do was far more valuable and relevant to this day and age. This quote by Henry Green sums up the biggest point that I have taken away from this class; that sometimes less is more and even though the way we consume media may be changing, it doesn't mean that the content needs to be any different...it just might be a matter of presentation.
These days, I often hear the scared voices on the internet talking about how attention spans are shrinking and how our brains are turning to mush in favor of consuming frivolous media. But, after completing all of the projects in this class I have realized that it is not about our inability to sit down and read a long scholarly article, but it is a preference to consume the most important parts of that article without the fluff...enter podcasts, audio essays, GIFS, Instagram stories and so on. The information doesn't need to be dumbed down, nor do we desire to be less educated as a society. It is about consuming the maximum amount of the most important information in a short period of time.
-Isabel
Theme 1: Problem Solving Projects
The two projects I included under the problem solving theme were the video poem and the social media postings. These projects were not a quick and easy completion. They required a lot of revision and analytical thinking to convey all of the emotions and content in a short and concise way.
Video Poem
The biggest challenge for me, in creating this video poem, was figuring out how to interpret the written work to ensure that I conveyed that same message through the visuals. The poem I chose was "Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep" by Mary Elizabeth Frye. I was excited to work with this poem because of it's uplifting message about love and moving on after a tragedy. After analyzing the poem, I knew wanted my visuals to be different from the literal words of the poem in order to add visual variety and prompt discussion among the audience. I think that the author of the poem was trying to say you should not cry over a lost loved one because the memories, the good deeds, and the relationships that person created will live far longer than their physical life. To portray this, I chose a series of happy interactions clips, good deeds clips, and clips that depicted relationships. I put all of this to sentimental, yet uplifting music.
Video Poem First Draft
Video Poem Final Revision
I included the video poem under the problem solving projects because it took many different revisions and tweaks to finally achieve the video I wanted. Throughout the process, the revisions were usually not even about technical things. It was more about revising the video so that the audience could feel the emotion without being confused...but still be challenged to think deeply about the topic. I spent a lot of time finding the specific clips that I wanted to use and pairing them with the music to see if they conveyed my interpretation. I also had to ask for a lot of feedback from my peers and friends to make sure that what I was creating was translatable to different audiences. Overall, the process was a lot of back and forth but my final product was more than anything I could have done in one sitting.
Social Media Postings
The social media postings were my favorite project in this class because of how relevant they felt.This is where I really saw the Henry Green quote from the top of my page make sense to me. Especially with social media, being concise is key. It is so important to be able to communicate your message in a short and entertaining way, and I learned that it is not as easy as it looks.
Instagram Meme 1
The most challenging part of creating memes was coming up with a joke. I wanted them to be funny, but I also wanted them to be accessible to a wide range of people. I chose to go with an animal theme because I thought in would reach the largest audience. When creating the memes I had to keep the time limit of the media consumption at the forefront of my mind. People were going to look at these for approximately five seconds and if they did not understand the joke they would move on. So, I spent a lot of time selecting my word puns, and when I had them I got to work in Photoshop.
Instagram Meme 2
Animated GIF 1
When creating my animated GIFs I used the same experience and mindset that I used when creating the memes. I found these slightly easier to create because many of the video clips I looked through evoked an immediate emotional reaction from me which I then used as my joke. For instance, when I saw the clip of the cat in the box, I remember laughing to myself and saying, "Yeah I kind of feel like that today." After this process I realized the impact that personal experience has on the creation of memes and GIFs. I think that my GIFs turned out funnier and more relatable because they were drawing on feelings that I had actually experienced before, whereas my memes were more a play on words. At the end of the day memes and GIFs are often a way to acknowledge that we all experience and share similar feelings or situations in our very different lives.
Animated GIF 2
Instagram Story 1: Video Story
My Instagram stories were also a lessons in trimming the fluff in order to highlight the most important aspects of a conversation. I struggled with the one minute time limit when creating my video story and the eight photo limit with the image story. But, these problems made me stop and think about which aspects of the stories were really the most important. Through my revision process I realized as I let go of some information, the information I kept was able to stand out and shine.
Instagram Story 2: Image Story
I also had several iterations of these image stories from an artistic standpoint. I spent time doing and then redoing them so that they looked visually pleasing without overwhelming the image scenery itself.
Draft 1
Draft 2
To see the final draft of this image, see my video below.
Final Draft
Portfolio Video 1
Storyboard for first portfolio video
Theme 2: Risk Taking Projects
I included my audio essay and my podcast in the risk taking projects category because they both pushed me out of my comfort zone. When creating the audio essay I realized that speaking a strong argument is very different from writing it. When speaking into the microphone I had to make sure I was speaking slowly and clearly while also placing emphasis on my important points. I found this nerve wracking and struggled with achieving an effortless and approachable tone. When creating the podcast, I had to let go of all the control I had while creating the audio essay. While recording my podcast, I had to be a host, an expert, and a conversationalist all at the same time. This felt like a lot to balance while I was simultaneously trying to engage the guest who I had on my show. I feel that I grew by doing both of these projects, not only as a speaker but also as a writer.
Audio Essay
The audio essay project was eye opening to me because it was just as much research and writing as an academic paper, but in the end the delivery was much more interesting and easy to consume. I realize that details may get lost when a viewer consumes media through audio, but I can tell it is more enjoyable and can often have a bigger impact on the people listening.
Take a look here at my Audio Essay Script
Audio Essay Draft
Audio Essay Final Revision
Podcast
My podcast project was an important project for me to realize how much preparation goes into these productions. While they seem like effortless conversations when you hear them yourself, after being behind the scenes I understand how much goes on. It took a lot of work to be educated on the topic in a way that I could steer my host in a forward moving direction for the sake of the storyline but also have engaging and though provoking conversation along the way.
Take a look at these materials I used to prepare for my podcast.
Podcast Research
Podcast Talking Points
Podcast Final
Portfolio Videos 2: Podcast
Take a look at my storyboard for this project.
Comments
Throughout the year I commented on readings and peer work. I have chosen some of my best comments to showcase how I grew during this class.
Comments On Peer Work
Comments on Readings
Overview
Overall, this class taught me a lot about preparation, revision and writing for an audience. I also feel like I better understand how to teak my own work and how to evaluate the of work others. I understand that constructive criticism does not mean that your work is bad but that it can be improved, and I have realized that nothing is perfect and it is always possible to improve. I have learned a plethora of technical skills in Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audacity, Rush and APowersoft. As well as how to communicate in a way that highlights the most important information leaving out the fluff, sometimes when you are able to remove the excess information, what you leave becomes all the more impactful to your audience. I learned how to step out of my comfort zone and how to problem solve in so many different kinds of situations. Thank you Professor Anderson for a wonderful semester and for the opportunity to acquire a toolbox of skills that I will surely use in the real world.