Week Three!!!

Element #1:

The video "Making Salt" portrays a project where the students appeared to participate on a salt farm.  Told from the students' perspective, the video seems to be created to both educate the viewer on what is being done and how the process takes place, as well as further the lesson for students by forcing them to consider the role of teacher themselves, as they create and narrate an educational video for others to see. 

"Fish Tank" has a similar purpose in its creation, a project where students participate in what seems to by a organic gardening/fishery project.  Rather than having students narrate this video, "Fish Tank" seems to have the teacher narrating the story.  You see a more general overview of the project, rather than hear what actions the students performed, or hear the students' opinions directly. 

Element #2:

The dramatic question in the "Guam" video is much more obvious, as it is stated in text at the onset: "Are you making Guam ugly?" The video's purpose is the ask people to consider their actions and do their part in keeping Guam beautiful and litter/trash free. There is no direct resolution, but rather the video presents a problem and the resolution is inferred: there is litter present on Guam, but if everyone does their part the issue can be resolved. 

I'll admit, I pondered for a few minutes on the "Seward Legend" dramatic question.  The question, as it appears to me, is simply "Will this woman be able to preserve her fish?"  The resolution shows that, thanks to the goddess, salt water was created as a way to assist with preserving fish and avoid being wasteful. Though, in honesty, she should have stopped fishing before catching so many that it overtook her salt supply. Tsk!

Element #3: 

In the teen depression video, the obvious emotional paradigm would be the issue of depression in teenagers and its debilitating and dangerous consequences.  It is something that I imagine we have all been through in the past, making it a very relatable topic.  

"Elders" attempts to grip the viewer with expressing the importance of learning of history and culture from grandparents. This video is also very relatable, as we all have grandparents, though people tend to vary greatly in how much contact they share. 

The emotional paradigm in "What is a Stranger?" is the question of how we perceive strangers and the fact that we cannot judge on appearance alone, or look for stereotypes. Who knows what the person you are encountering is capable of?

Element #4: 

 The use of voice can dictate emotion, can control the speed of a story, and can add legitimacy to a message. In the first video, the woman sounds as though she speaks with maturity and experience, seeming as though she is recalling a memory rather than telling a story. 

The second video uses children's voices to both narrate as well as create background music.  The use of the childrens' voices frames the video as a project, and adds ownership to the creators. I believe that it also adds a particular trait of originality and uniqueness to the video. 

Element #5: 

Music can definitely add emotion and set exceptions for a scene or video, even just from the tempo or tone used. Bass can set one on edge for either action or horror, while a quick-footed galloping beat can make one feel lighthearted and jovial. 

The video shows what seems to be a group of people investing into their environment and holding on the the importance of their community and culture. The music in the song also seems to have strong cultural and language roots, which adds to the feelings derived from the video. 

Element #6: 

As someone with an erratic, curious, and active mind, I tend to hate stories that assume the reader will "fill in the gaps," unless that gap is to allow the viewer to take the conclusion of the story where they will.  As for the how and why within a story, I would rather simply be directed! 

Video one seems to interpret the images well, however it leaves out gaps in terms of making the story seem tangible. Where was the bed placed? There was room in the house for it? And the brothers still have to sleep together! 

The second video does a better job of being elaborate in its storytelling. It uses longer scenes to explain what is happening, it uses more slides to establish the problem prior to introducing the solution, and it explains how everything was resolved. 

Permission the speak candidly on the third video. Granted? Excellent. 

Look, I'm all about creativity and user interpretation on images, but the third video seemed like the goal was to create a separate story from each individual slide, then slam it all together and hope the pieces fit. From a visual standpoint, the images seem to have little in common with each other, creating a need for the narrators to explain in much more depth what is happening. To be lenient, the story begins with the narrator telling a tale the her two children. The images could be grandiose as a result of the fact that she is telling a tale, but I believe that visual cohesiveness between slides allows the viewer an easier transition from segment to segment. I interpreted this as: "Tell a story? Okay. I liked books. I wanted to be amazing. I wanted the lord of the forest. What I got was a guy doing his laundry.  Oh, you fell asleep."  The overall message feels forced. 

Element #7:

This message definitely goes back to element four and the use of voice as a tool in creating a video. 

TAKE COVER!!! The first video does a wonderful job of creating an example of being way too fast paced for a video that uses instruction and specifics. The video uses several facts as a way to establish legitimacy in its message, however those facts are lost as a result of them being fired on the listener rapidly. Allowing the viewer to process the facts as they are presented would allow them to accept that, yes, they do need to pay attention to how to avoid being injured in an earthquake. With the current pace, I was still wondering about the earthquake when they were halfway through discussion injury prevention. 

I enjoyed the second video! The pace was done well in places, while being a bit cumbersome in others. The introductory scene "school bus" dragged on too long, as the viewer could already tell what was being portrayed about 5-8 seconds prior to the scene ending. This is the same as the "bell system" and "cafeteria" scenes. Shortly after these sections, the pace picks up well, with short clicks showing the teachers, classes, and athletics team. 

Videos and projects referenced found here: Reflective Assessment

Activity 2



I chose to analyze "Unmapped Roads" for my blog.

"Unmapped Roads" is a story told by a woman and mother who takes her son on a two week road trip across the United States.  We hear the mother's voice as she introduces the story with an awkward and humorous story of her son being into a bottle while stuck in traffic (been there).  As we continue into the story, the topic is presented: this mother and son are on an adventure. Where? Why? While the issue of peeing in a car initially grabs the readers attention, curiosity as to the details of their trip is what keeps me watching.
Why do we seek adventure, new challenges, chase the horizon? At times it is to excite ourselves, to turn over new earth and face the unknown. Other times, it is for a challenge, to prove to ourselves that we are capable of overcoming obstacles. It can also be used in the face of life's treacherous terrain, a tool to either run from or attempt to answer a problem that one faces.
Heather, the mother,  uses this two week road trip as a medium to reconnect with her son and to recreate life following a divorce. The video wraps the viewer in the scene of a mother and son connecting through unknown terrain and unique challenges they face as they drop the metaphorical baggage weighing them down and set out to simply live and explore for across the United States.
Amazing the emotions that can be expressed and related to in only three minutes and fifteen seconds. I found a strong connection to the video's content, as I was around the same age as the boy in the video when my own parents divorced.  At the same time, I have also chased the horizon as an attempt to clear my mind, reset my priorities, and establish the next step to take. Others could also find this video compelling for additional reasons: the care of a parent, one who has themselves been divorced, someone who has been on an adventure and learned something, or even one who has found comfort in facing the unknown.
I will also advise the reader to take special note of pacing and voice dictation throughout the video. Had this video not been narrated, or not been narrated by a voice that could be conceived to be the mother, would it really be as emotionally compelling? Revisit the video and observe the use of silence to enforce the overall message of the video around the 2:45 mark.  This pause is used to mark the barrier between conflict and resolution, as Heather confesses the emotional weight she is feeling, while at the same time realizing that her life is beginning to once again gain color and clarity. "Unmapped Roads" tells a story of setbacks and progress, struggle and success; it creates a accessible message for others to view and empathize with, while stirring a primal emotion to explore one's world.






Activity 3

Vanessa Clay
Vanessa's story does an excellent job of framing the purpose of the video with a purposeful introduction.  Vanessa viewed herself as bland, ordinary, completely uninteresting; her digital story explores how she discovered there was more to her and her heritage than she understood.

Vanessa's pace in her narration is well performed. She pauses on words for effect, such as the death of her grandfather, or to emphasize that her grandmother baked a LOT of cookies.
If I had to critique her pace or narration, it would be that there is little more than a few very brief pauses through the entire five minute presentation. While this works well for delivering the information quickly, the digital story covers a lot of information during those five minutes, and there is opportunity for the viewer to reflect and relate to some of the material if there were only a few more significant pauses to indicate transition. At the same time, the pace does help hold viewer attention.

There are many emotion objects to grasp in the video, whether it is family ties, the feeling of being unexciting, Applachian culture, or simply the change of thought and interpretation as one grows older. Vanessa supports her topics and main theme with visual evidence and material, which helps the viewer more closely relate to what she is saying.

Jared St. Brown

Jared's story is a reminiscent tale of a trip that he, his father, and his grandfather took when he was a child.  His voice conveys the warmth he feels as he remembers the story and its details, and his pace is casual and meandering as he follows the the tale, like a winding stream. While it does relax the listener and create a more receptive mood to the details, viewers could become detached and disinterested at times when the slower pace is paired with more detailed explanation or listing. An example would be when Jared is explaining the differences between his father and grandfather; Jared wants to emphasize the point that they are very different, however his explanation seems redundant at times, and he becomes predictable. I also found myself checking to see if my speakers were working while waiting for the audio to kick in for the video.
The dramatic question that is posed in the beginning, "a word that will summarize America," seems to be talked around, and doesn't really seem to be the notion of the story.  The listener never learns the word, but rather learns about what Jared perceives is common ground between people, and the importance of travel and the road.

Sarah Cline

Sarah's story is filled with emotion and is gripping as a result. The quotes at the beginning, while subtle, do suggest to the viewer that the video will be about overcoming adversity and relating to a mother. Hearing a first-hand story of how someone lost their mother and how it has affected them is not a common story and is something that everyone can relate to.

It is difficult to offer critique on a video like this...

I feel that Sarah could have given a little more information about her life up until nine to make the story a little more information for the viewer.  As it is presented, you are only just briefly introduced to her and her mother prior to the section about her mother's death. The pace at which the death is introduced takes some of the emotion away from it for the viewer, in my opinion. More information on their life together could make it more "real."  

She does well with the emotional highs and lows: after the introduction, emotions drop with her mothers death, then gradually begin to rise as she continues to live and grow. The story also benefits from her narration, as she is telling her own story.

Amber Haller

Amber is the first of the selected group to use music in her video, and its ability to set mood and tone definitely stands out. What also stands out is that Amber is the only person to not narrate her own story. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes it less personal and emotionally compelling to me.

She does well in terms of her structuring of the story, with framing the base facts of her grandma and why she idolizes her, and then following through with her own struggles and continued pace towards success and happiness.

This story really seems as though it is more recounting someones story rather than sending a message, like I felt in a couple other videos.  It is very brief and does not contain a significant amount of detail that would lead one to leave it feeling attached. It would be effective as an explanation for one's motivations or how they got where they are now, however it would not be suitable if attempting to send a general message to the average listener, in my opinion.

BUBBLR!!!!