Similar to previous weeks, our class on Tuesday consisted of feeder 3.2 workshops throughout the classroom. Building upon last week’s thesis statement workshop, where we worked with our revised tentative thesis statements, we used this workshop to help revise the rough drafts into more polished, complete versions of each other’s work. Additionally, we explored the considerations we should take when composing our Unit 3 projects, which will be video essays. We analyzed the principles of document design, visual literacy, digital literacy modes/mediums, and multimedia consumptions. With our Unit 3 projects, which will contain more than one medium, we learned how important it is to think about the different modes and media and how they will interact in order to create our message.
On Thursday, we revisited some of the same materials from Tuesday. Before class, we were asked to read and watch an existing video essay. We them analyzed them with our groups during class. We spent a few minutes discussing an advertisement assigned to our groups and analyzed their meaning/purpose before looking at the genre models. We proceeded to work within our groups to interpret the form of our assigned model video essays. We reflected upon the content within the genre models and identified what kind of media is being used and for what purpose or effect. This allowed us to get a feel for what kind of media we would like to incorporate in our own video essays. In a way, deconstructing the genre models guided the process by which we can begin to construct our own. It inspired me to find just the right music, video clips, and images to incorporate into my own video essay.
For next class, we have plans to meet in the Media & Design Center. We have been tasked with exploring the Adobe Premiere Pro and other video editing softwares we might be familiar with. With our next step being the creation of our video essays, I expect to learn how these digital tools can help me bring my literary analysis to life. With my feedback from both my group partner, Mr. Blom, and my completed feeder 3.2, I can now begin designing the layout for my video essay and preparing my story board.
I find this next part of our unit project to be the most exciting. Finding the right segments of videos, images, on-screen texts, graphics, music, and sound effects is entirely up to us. The freedom to envision and develop an interpretation video sounds like a lot of fun to me. With the balance of feasibility and ambition in mind, I believe a video manifestation of sorts will really allow my creativity to show through. Personally, I am determined to illustrate more of the supernatural elements within my story. While my essay doesn’t exactly communicate whether I read this story as one that uses the supernatural as a metaphor or as a story of a man’s rage and psychosis that takes over his life, I have a vision as to how I can communicate that through a video.
Featured Image
Google Images, Creative Commons License.