Kaylie Griffin's Multimedia Composition Portfolio
Networked and Multimedia Composition with professor Dan Anderson was very an interactive and engaging class. The course work was very useful and taught me a lot about multimedia composition. Throughout the semester, I learned a variety of information and skills that can be applied to any academic endeavor, including my future profession in public health. Over the semester I have worked on a variety of projects and each one has taught me something different. In this portfolio, I have included my projects as well as reflections on the learning, growth, effort, and details of my final products. I have selected a quote by Manoj Arora that I believe captures my journey through Networked and Multimedia Composition. “Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end… because in the end, it shows you a whole new world! Make the attempt…” At the beginning of the semester I was hesitant and didn’t take many risks. However, as the semester progressed I pushed myself to be more adventurous and experiment with different programs and tools. Overall, I am glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone because it resulted in the success of my multimedia compositions.
Throughout the semester I have learned how to use programs such as Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Rush video editor, and Audacity to compose multimedia projects. Prior to this class, I had never used any of these programs. At the start of the semester, I was worried that my projects would be basic because of my lack of familiarity. Fortunately, in class we learned how to use the tools that these programs offered and looked at a variety of examples to get an idea of what we could create. This gave me the confidence I needed to be able to complete the assignments.
Looking back now, it was important for me to be pushed outside my comfort zone and try new things. Throughout the semester I experienced some challenges that frustrated me, but I worked through them and grew academically as well as personally. In my portfolio, the drafts and revisions of my projects are representative of me stepping outside of my comfort zone, collaborating with my peers to improve my projects, and my success with multimedia composition.
-Kaylie
Video Poem
My first project in Networked and Multimedia Composition was to compose a video poem. Prior to this class I had never heard of video poems before so I was relieved when Professor Anderson posted a reading for us about E-poetry. After reading about E-poetry, I was excited to learn that we would be composing a video to go along with words to a poem. In class, we discussed the different aspects of a video poem. We concluded that words, music, pictures, and videos can be used to emphasize certain aspects of the poem. The video poem project was an excellent introduction to multimedia composition because it introduced the Adobe Rush video editing software which helped me to incorporate music, pictures, videos, and text into my video.
For my video poem, I picked “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost because I grew up reading it in school and I am familiar with the message of the poem. My first draft of the video is reflective of my hesitancy to step outside my comfort zone. The draft is simplistic and literal. I used pictures and videos from wooded areas in order to demonstrate the nature aspects of the poem. Also, there were technical errors that needed to be edited. For example, the words to the poem were hard to read because the video was fast paced. Creating a draft was helpful to me because I was able go back through and rework areas that needed to be fixed as well as ask for advice from Professor Anderson and my peers.
Video Poem Draft
Revision
After consulting with Professor Anderson and my classmates, I decided to make my video poem more complex. I added pictures and videos of a busy city to create a visual contrast. The contrasting landscapes added depth to the video poem and allows the viewers to interpret the video for themselves. The revision gave me more experience working with the video editing software but also challenged me academically to analyze the poem and think about the major themes present in the poem. Overall, I learned a lot from the video poem project and successfully completed my video. I enjoyed working with Adobe Premiere Rush video editing software and feel confident to use it in the future. However, the most important take away I got from this project is that there are many methods of communication that can successfully deliver the message. As society becomes more dependent on technology and social media more people will be using video and pictures to convey their ideas so it is important to learn and understand the thought behind multimedia compositions.
Social Media Postings
For the next project, I felt more confident using Instagram as the platform for social media posts because I have been using Instagram for the past couple years. The goal of this project was to learn the necessary tools of a successful social media post. Also, this project was relevant to my peers and I because we collectively spend a lot of time on social media, either looking at news on Twitter or pictures on Instagram. I focused on 3 major categories for social media posts. I made 2 graphic memes, 2 GIFs, (one animated GIF meme and one animated GIF art) and 2 Instagram stories. Prior to this class, I only had experience composing an Instagram story. However, I was familiar with the concepts of memes and GIFs and was excited to create some of my own.
Meme 1
First we worked on how to compose a meme. For this project we worked with Photoshop. In order to brainstorm ideas, I thought about the aspects that make memes go viral in today’s society. I found that the most successful memes limited the word count to less than 8 words, and were relatable, funny, and easy to understand. For my first meme I decided use pictures of Roy Williams, the UNC basketball coach, and the NC State Wolfpack. Additionally, I picked “Not Roy’s Rival” as my caption because it was short and included a catchy alliteration. I came up with this idea pretty fast because there was a UNC versus NC State basketball game coming up.
Meme 2
For my second meme I picked on North Carolina’s unpredictable weather as the subject of my meme. In the winter the weather in North Carolina can range from 65 degrees one day to sunny to 30 degrees and snowing another day. I used two contrasting pictures to show the difference of weather as well as word play to capture the audience’s attention.
To compose both memes I found images online and manipulated them using Photoshop. The tools in Photoshop that I used were: selection, rotation, layering, and the addition of text. Not only did I learn how to manipulate pictures in Photoshop through this project, but I also developed confidence to post my memes on Instagram for anyone to look at. Prior to this class, I didn’t create my own memes to post because I lacked confidence in my ability to create a successful meme. However, with the support of my classmates I felt comfortable to post them.
Animated GIF Meme
Throughout the social media project, I continued to see growth in my ability to step outside my comfort zone and push myself to explore new genres of multimedia composition. The next part of this project was to make animated GIFs. GIFs are a series of images or short soundless videos that loop continuously for about 3-5 seconds. I was working with 2 different types of GIFs. First, I was required to make a meme GIF, which is a short clip that includes a written caption on the clip. These GIFs are commonly seen on social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and are often made to be funny or relatable.
For my meme gif, I ripped a clip of a lady celebrating for a couple seconds and then she stops celebrating and looks disappointed. I used this one because I was inspired by her relatable reaction to something exciting happening and then shortly after being disappointed. Once I imported the short clip into Photoshop I added layers of text. Generally composing literary pieces consist solely of words, but this projects focuses on combining video and words in order to enhance both aspects of the piece. This project taught me how to effectively place words on a clip so that the readers can see them easily. For example, I added the yellow outer glow to give the words a yellow background and the black outline called a stroke so that the white words would stand out on the purple background on the top and the white background on the bottom. This is one of the most important aspects of this GIF because if the audience can’t read the words, the message is lost. I learned that messages need to be short and to the point so that the audience can follow along. Meme GIF culture is a growing phenomenon and is able to display relatable messages across social media platforms. Learning how to create one has improved my understanding behind the literary composition of meme GIFs.
Animated GIF Art
The goal of the animated GIF art was to take an inanimate picture and make it a GIF by manipulating different layers of the picture. This GIF is more intricate and pays closer attention to the details and elements of the picture. First, I duplicated the layers so that I could make different edits on each layer. I picked a picture of lightning so that I could manipulate the brightness of the picture. I made the first layer’s brightness low and increased each layer’s brightness until they all had different levels of brightness. By manipulating the brightness, I was able to make a short clip looking like the lightning was flashing. From this project I learned how to manipulate Photoshop tools to enhance a still picture and bring it to life through a short clip. Social media revolves around posting pictures with or without captions. By making this GIF, I was able to use Photoshop tools to enhance the details of the picture. Words don’t need to be included on this picture because it speaks for itself. The sense of fear is ingrained through the flashing of the lightning and dark sky. Also not including words gives people a chance to think for themselves what this GIF is trying to portray.
Overall, I have genuinely enjoyed learning how to manipulate both the memes and GIFs through Photoshop. I learned effective skills used to deliver a message using modern day social media. This is an extremely important skill to have as most news and advertising is delivered via social media. Specifically, I learned the importance of clear and straightforward wording. Although, this was the best method for the memes and GIFs, my video poem benefited from having a juxtaposition between the pictures and words presented because it allowed the audience to think and interpret the meaning. Also, I learned that not using words can also be effective and can influence the audience’s emotion through focusing on the details of the picture. In my second gif, I focused on the lightning aspect and manipulated the brightness to help influence a scared and dangerous emotion out of the audience.
Instagram Story 1
Finally, I made a series of 2 Instagram stories. The first story consisted of multiple images and the second story included multiple videos. The goal of this project was to link together small pictures and videos in a way that creates a larger message. I was inspired by the island of Bermuda. Tourism is one of the most important industries in Bermuda. I used my own pictures and videos to create the multiple image story. The goal of this Instagram story was to show Bermuda’s beautiful scenery and unique culture to encourage people to travel to Bermuda. Instagram stories are a perfect place for advertisements or short public service announcements because they are short and easily accessible. I felt more in my element with this project because I often use Instagram stories to wish my friends happy birthday or advertise for an event held by a student organization that I am involved with. However, I have never used it to link pictures together to create a larger message. I was excited to be exploring new styles of Instagram stories that I hadn’t tried before, continuing to step outside of my comfort zone and learn new skills.
Instagram Story 2
The second Instagram story I created consisted of multiple videos. I decided to make this Instagram story a public service announcement about reducing trash, reusing items, and recycling. I was inspired by Bermuda’s beautiful beaches and want the population to keep them clean. I used my own videos from Bermuda’s beaches and added a musical clip about reducing, reusing, and recycling to get the message across. I think that my ad was effective because the videos are compelling and the message is short and to the point. I learned that Instagram stories are the perfect avenue for public service announcements. I received feedback from viewers that they enjoyed my story and encouraged me to make more.
Overall, the social media posting project taught me that multimedia composition can be easily incorporated into everyday life or used to deliver any message. I will keep this in mind as I set out to become a public health professional. My goal is to have an impact on the world populations access to healthcare. By using social media platforms and eye capturing memes, GIFS, and Instagram stories, I will be able to be relatable to the population as well as relevant with the new social culture. I will be able to promote healthcare and access to healthcare more effectively by using tools like these.
Audio Essay
I used Audacity to compose the audio essay and podcast. Audacity was easy to work with and I was able to import different audio clips, manipulate them, and also record myself talking. For the audio essay, I used scholarly research, news clips and videos to incorporate into my audio essay. The goal of my audio essay was to provide a short informational clip that allowed the listener to be engaged and understand the important pieces of research that I had found. After I researched the topic, I was able to write the script. I think this is the most important step. A major take away for me while I was composing the audio essay was the impact of words and tone. It was important to keep the script short and concise. I didn’t want to have too many thoughts or ideas going on because that might cause the listener to get confused. Unlike the video poem, the audio essay lacked any visual assistance, so it was important that my script was easy to understand. When I began recording my audio essay, I made sure to keep in mind the tone of my voice. Tone is important for the audio essay so that the listeners remain engaged and don’t get bored. However, I learned this is way harder than it sounds. The first time I recorded my voice I did the whole script in one go. I got some feedback from my classmates and they said towards the end of the recording I sounded boring and I was talking fast. I think the constructive criticism I got from my classmates helped me make my final revision of my audio essay better. My second time recording my voice, I made sure to slow down and focus on each set of words individually, adding different tones to my voice. By doing this I was able to make my audio clip sound more conversational but also I kept a professional tone. Also during the peer review, I was advised to add some kind of soft music at the beginning, end, and during the transitions between the audio clips and my voice because it would help polish the audio essay and give the listener a soft entrance and exit.
Overall, the audio essay taught me a lot about audio communication. Tone and important information are the key to developing a successful audio essay. The audio essay was my favorite project that I made this semester. It was my favorite because I felt in my element. I really liked planning out what I was going to say and I practiced until it was perfect. I was able to do multiple recordings and use my revised script to create a perfect audio essay. In my future, I will continue to use audio essays as a way of communication because it is a convenient way to communicate important information in less than 5 minutes.
Audio Essay Draft:
Audio Essay Revision:
Podcast
The goal of the next project was to transform my short concise audio essay into a longer podcast, where I interviewed my friend Taylor on her thoughts of social media's impact on attention spans. While I was preparing for this podcast, I struggled to not write a word for word script of what I wanted to say to Taylor. The idea behind this podcast is to have normal conversation with her and to include our opinions and thoughts on this topic as the conversation goes on. This podcast was more chaotic for me because it wasn’t scripted. As I mentioned before, I like to have a specific plan with what I am going to say and when to say it. However, the beauty of creating the podcast is that it isn’t scripted. One thing that helped me prepare for my podcast was being picked to do a run through of my podcast in front of the class with a fellow classmate. This gave me the opportunity to try it out and make mistakes. I was incredibly nervous to practice in front of the class. However, I think it was for the best that I was pushed out of my comfort zone. After I ran through my research and questions, I received incredible feedback from my classmates on what I could improve for my actual podcast. Despite my nerves, I learned a lot from practicing and receiving constructive feedback. When it was time to record my podcast with Taylor, I used the voice recording option on Audacity and let it record the conversation. Occasionally one of us would get caught up on our words, but we would just keep going or just start over and I was able to clean it up after. Although the podcast was a challenge for me, I was able to improve my critical thinking and collaboration skills. The podcast required me to be actively listening to what Taylor was saying and then I had to work with what she said to tie it back to the research I had done. In the future, I will be more prepared to adapt to new kinds of projects because of the skills I have learned from the audio projects.
Portfolio Videos
Throughout the semester, I created two videos documenting and reflecting on my projects. The first reflection video was about the 2 GIFs I created, and the second reflection video was about the audio essay and podcast projects. I thought that creating the reflection videos was extremely beneficial. They not only demonstrated how I composed the projects but also gave me a chance to reflect on my experiences. I enjoyed composing the reflection videos because I was able to discuss how I completed the project, what I learned, what I had trouble with and why, and what I would do next time to improve my projects. I think my videos will be beneficial to other people who want to learn about the programs or the projects I have created. My reflection video about the audio essay and podcast is very representative of how much I learned this semester. I incorporated music, videos, pictures, text, and reflection into one video. By the end of the semester I was fully comfortable working with all the programs and plan on continuing to refine my skills in the future.
Storyboard for GIF Reflection Video
Script for GIF Reflection Video
Script for Audio Essay and Podcast Reflection Video
Web Site Comments and Exercises
Collaboration was one of my favorite parts of this class. It allowed me to receive constructive feedback from my peers that I used to grow and learn. I found it helpful to get a new perspective and it opened my eyes to things I may have overlooked or never considered. Not only did I receive helpful feedback from my classmates, I also provided feedback on their projects. My classmates and I were able to create a trustworthy learning environment through our positive and helpful comments. The supportive atmosphere allowed people to feel comfortable with sharing what they had created and everyone was open to receiving feedback. It is important to me to give others feedback because it shows my classmates that I am invested in their project and want to help them learn and improve.
- Audio Essay Comments:
-
My comment on Courtney's Audio Essay Draft
My comment on Logan's Audio Essay Draft
- Video Poem Essays:
- In class Exercises
-
Reflection of Audio Essay and Podcast
Improv Audio Exercise
I have discovered a whole new world of communication strategies through Networked and Multimedia Composition. This course has been one of the most rewarding classes that I have taken at UNC. The skills I have learned in this course will stick with me for a long time and will benefit me in my future. I have noticed personal growth and an increased desire to push myself out of my comfort zone despite challenges I may face. My successful projects have boosted my self-confidence and I will pursue any kind of project that I am interested in. I would like to thank Professor Anderson for the opportunity to learn about the world of multimedia composition and for his support this semester.