I have never been fond of English classes. As a junior, I had procrastinated taking one for long enough. So, I went to the school directory and looked at all the English courses. Then I copied the name of the teachers to my clipboard and went to ‘www.ratemyprofessors.com’. Mr. Anderson had a score of 4.8/5.0 with all astonishing reviews. The consensus said his courses can be challenging but he genuinely cares about his students and what they gained from his class. My search was over and I enrolled in Networked and Multimedia Composition with Professor Anderson.
The first day he started off the class by saying “Alright we’re going to go ahead and get started so we can have at least 100 pages of writing by the end of the semester.” My initial reaction was that ‘ratemyprofessors’ lied to me. He immediately laughed and explained how he was joking and proceeded to continue going over the syllabus with all of the amazing projects we should expect. Creating videos and making a podcast was something I have always wanted to create but honestly it’s intimidating if you do not have experience with these different platforms. However, because of Professor Anderson’s classroom approach that focused on collaboration and reflection, the learning curve wasn’t as intimidating as I had initially believed. I became curious about all of the different techniques I could add to my projects. For the first time I found an English class that I wanted to go above and beyond in because the more I explored on software like Audacity, Premiere Rush, Premiere Pro, the more I wanted to learn.
Throughout the semester Professor Anderson’s initial quote resonated with all of my projects, because it showed just how important Tone was for conveying messages. His serious inclination caused the whole class to reevaluate taking this class. Then by subverting our expectations we were relieved of our conflicts.
"Tone is often the most important part of a conversation - and listening is so much more important than what you say."
-Hoda Kotb
Video Poems
Original Draft
Revisions: I needed drastic improvement on the pacing of my video and the readability of the words.
Final Draft
The video poem was the first major project that we completed in English 149. It laid the foundation for composing digital literature. The purpose of this project was to take a poem and compose a video that compliments the imagery of the poem.
This project was probably one of my favorites. I struggled finding poems online that aligned with the vision I had in my head, so I decided to write my own rap. I wrote “Alone in the Room”, because I had been talking to one of my friends who just got out of a toxic relationship and was feeling trapped in his room. The next step was finding music that would help set the tone for the song and to compliment the hidden messages. Just creating my own rap was rewarding in and of itself, but really bringing it to life with the video poem gave me a newfound respect for this form of literature. Poems are typically very ambiguous and are left for the to the reader to interpret. For video poems the producer is in complete control. From the song selection to the video clips, the producer set the tone, this strengthened the themes I was trying to portray.
I struggled a lot with my initial draft. I wanted to make the tempo of my poem fast but I had to sacrifice on readability. Some suggestions from my classmates were, to leave the words on screen longer, or to have me rap along to the words. I chose the former, as my high pitch voice is not adequate for rapping. I was conflicted because by leaving the words on the screen longer it made it difficult to match the tempo of the song. It is extremely difficult to read the lyrics off beat. So I thought of a new solution that required a lot of work. I was going to make the words appear one at a time so that the reader could get a sense of the tempo. Also, I was going to make the words linger on the screen until the verse would end. To accomplish this effect, I had to increase the duration of my clips. Therefore, because I had to use fewer clips, my video selection was crucial for the final product. Finding the perfect video clips were probably the hardest part. My poem had a beginning, a middle, and an end, so I needed to have clips that would flow together seamlessly.
Overall, there were a ton of positive takeaways from this project. Such as being extremely creative when you reach a roadblock and learning to implement other people's suggestions. I also gained a great foundation for creating videos through Premiere Pro. Initially we used Premiere Rush, but I converted to Pro because it had way more features and seamless transitions.
Social Media Postings
To change pictures press the left or right side of the picture
Memes:
The first two images in the image carousel are the two memes I created throughout the semester. I already had some basic knowledge of Photoshop so I was completely in my element. We learned from class that some of the funniest memes are concise, humorous, satirical, or ironic. My particular style of humor is humor through a subversion of expectations. Some key components to make a meme go viral is longevity and adaptability. Viral memes tend to stay on social media for a while because they can easily be copied or changed to create a new memes entirely.
For my first meme, featuring a sweaty Jordan Peele, I took an already established meme and made it my own. Everyone at UNC knows Gary the pit preacher, thus creating the relationship between the audience and the meme. I used sweaty Jordan Peele to represent a stereotypical fraternity member who partied all weekend. The irony of this meme is that the college student knows he had committed holy act over the weekend, but he’s getting nervous when the preacher asked him.
For my second meme, I chose to do a pun on Michael Jordan's “the ceiling is the roof”. Michael Jordan has become a viral meme multiple times. What I did was combined his crying meme with his “the ceiling is the roof” meme. This way I could make a meme with different layers of comic depth. This meme was funny because of its play on words and our previous association with Michael Jordan.
GIFS:
The last two items in the image carousel are the two gifs I created throughout the semester. This assignment was probably the most difficult project we had. To create our gifs we had to import either pictures or videos into photoshop and work on them layer by layer. I learned that gif’s can be a great platform for both creative expression and creative information because gifs are usually small and easily transferable.
For the first gif I took the pun “ you cat to be kitten me” and made it a meme. This was similar to our video projects because we took some words and added visual imagery. To create this I had to layer the words in photoshop frame by frame which became very time consuming.
For my second gif, I really wanted to see what I could do with color and movement. To create this gif, it was essentially 2 pictures moving back and forth to appear 3 dimensional. Professor Anderson noted that, “even though there wasn’t much context in the gif, I can’t help but stare at it for long periods of time”. This was interesting because with memes once you discover the meaning you move on, but with gifs the dynamic movement is captivating. The class also enjoyed this gif because with the ambiguity you can almost argue that the hidden message is about racial segregation. Even though this wasn’t my intentions, it was interesting hearing all of the interpretations of something so simple.
Overall I learned that as with technology advancing more people are opting to receive their information via electronic literature. Learning how to use movement, color, and humor is critical for making a viral gif or meme. Tone in these projects came from these 3 element and by mastering these techniques you can really captivate an audience.
Instagram Stories:
For our Instagram stories project we had to create one informative video production and one creative collection of images. For my first Instagram story (the one on the left), I didn’t want the message to be immediately apparent. What seems to be a random assortment of videos all comes together at the end when I say the message “how do you commute to class”. This question connects all of the videos while providing a creative way to gather information. The second Instagram story, I took inspiration from my gif projects where we had to work on the images frame by frame. What I did was make for each picture in the Instagram story, the pictures would build on top of each other until the message of playing outside became clear. I found that for both of these Instagram stories, it was important to have cohesiveness with each clip or picture. I think that is why my first video failed while my second one thrived because the relationship between each segment.
Visual Reflections
I genuinely enjoyed making the visual reflection project. By sharing the creative process and the difficulties I experienced while making my video poem and GIF’s, I began to appreciate all of the work I had to put into each of these projects. Think of these video reflection projects like a cake. All of the things we learned in class were the layers of the cake and it was our job to assemble the layers. You never really take the time to appreciate the time and skill it takes for a baker to make the perfect desert. Also, I enjoyed this project because we got to analyse the process that our classmates went through. You can learn a lot from the experiences of others. There were times when I was watching my classmates video poems, wondering how they accomplished that effect, and if I did the same would it have the same impact on my final project.
Audio Essay and Podcast
Audio Essay:
Before this class I honestly did not know audio essays existed. When we started listening to the example in class about the noises of her home, I couldn’t help but get immersed into the world she was describing. I know I wanted to do something similar with something that reminds me of my youth. This is why I start my audio essay with an anecdote from Mario, I used Mario as a platform to describe the importance of Audio in video games. Sounds in video games help for video game immersion. I then took this principle and applied it to my audio essay. This is why I opted to use audio that helped supplement my words rather than having quotes from other people. I felt as if I could convey my message with credibility it would have more of an impact on the listener than hearing someone else and me just agreeing with what they had to say. Flow and tone were essential for the audio essay. I needed to make a cohesive story with a beginning, a climax, and an end. I also needed to speak in a tone that complimented my audio clips. I learned that if the clips did not match the speaker the conviction of the message is lost.
Initial draft
Revisions: I did not have to change much but I rerecorded my voice with a clearer mic and I equalized the volume for all of the clips to match my own voice.
Podcast:
The podcast was completely different than anything I had created before. I struggled finding a topic that I could confidently talk about for 15+ minutes. For me to create my podcast it took two attempts. My initial podcast I discussed what the culture of African American music. I had to to scrap this one because the partner I chose to assist me wasn’t as informative on the topic as I had hoped. Also, my partner would frequently pause and wouldn’t assist in creating conversation. I didn’t want to have my podcast one sided because it felt like an interview. For my next podcast I decided to get my girlfriend Sunny to discuss relationships. Communication within relationships is extremely important. Therefore, I hoped that by making my podcast about relationship, I could help others and myself learn to better communicate. Also, with my partner being my girlfriend, the flow was extremely natural. I learned that with podcasts, flow isn’t as important as with audio essays. With my podcast I tried to keep a cohesive flow but going off topic actually assisted in making the podcast easier to listen to.
Audio Essay and Podcast Reflection Video
The final project we had in this class was to make a reflection video on our audio essay and podcast. For this assignment I incorporated everything that I had previously learned from this class. In the first 8 seconds of the clip I capture the audiences attention with a collage of technology. Then I take it away, so all you have is me saying the word "listen". Learning though listening is what audio essays and podcast are all about. The last thing I want to highlight is at 2:20. The clip starts out in black and white to be synonymous with how the tone in my audio essay was monotone. Then as the clip transitions into my discussion of the tone in my podcast, it gradually transitions into color. I thought this truly captivated everything we learned from the audio essay and podcast because it explains the purpose of flow and tone in a beautiful way.
The only problem I had with this reflection video was the trouble to gather meaningful clips. The video recorder I had used made some of the videos choppy. If I was to do this video again, I would choose clips with a slower frame rate. Also, I noticed that my voice was very monotone. I tried to adjust the levels in Audacity as much as I could, but the end result still felt a little bland.
Final Thoughts
This class was a blast! Professor Anderson created a judgement free zone and really emphasized the importance of collaboration. One of the greatest lectures of the year was when Professor Anderson and Alex did a podcast in front of the whole classroom. I was amazed with how natural it seemed. Learning by example is so powerful. The reflection videos were very useful in gauging the success of our projects. Classmate feedback was valuable as well. My classmates were struggling just as much as I was, and they might have came across the same hurdles you're encountering. The biggest take away I had from this class was the knowledge I learned for all the different software we used. For my audio essay, I had to render my video in Premiere Pro, then adjust my audio in audacity, finally I had to use premiere rush to clean things up. Its crazy that amount of resources I used just to create one project. Lastly, I want to go back to the theme of my portfolio which was tone. For my portfolio I wanted to make the layout clean and easy to read. It required tons of javascript and html to create the image carousel. Focusing on small details were encouraged throughout the course. Why would I stop now.
Thank you,
Marlon MacIntyre
Other Class Activities
- Reading Comments
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Look at what I had to say about Visual Strategies reading.
Look at what I had to say about Photoshop and Memes reading.
Look at what I had to say about E-Poetry reading.
Look at what I had to say about Animated Gifs reading.
Look at what I had to say about Reflection Videos reading
Look at what I had to say about RIP: A Remix Manifesto reading.
Look at what I had to say about A Tale of Two Soundscapes reading.
Look at what I had to say about From Print to Audio reading.
Look at what I had to say about Word Play reading.
- Peer Review Comments
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Look at this comment I made on Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Look at this comment I made on Coming Together by Logan Mebrino
Look at this comment I made on Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep by IsabelHewgley
- Daily Tasks
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Check out the first poem I was going to use for my video poem
Check out this improv video we made in class
Check out Daily task 3-6
Check out Daily task 4-5