MElanie tells stories
Telling digital stories is pretty awesome.
Advanced Screenings
The campus tour video music held my attention but after a while it was just too much of the same almost. Maybe the song could be switched? The part where the music was quieter was different which caught my attention again. I particularly enjoyed the part in the car because it seemed like you were driving really fast and it had a cool visual effect. The focus of this film was visuals and scene transitions which worked nicely. In “The Story For Noone” the story itself was touching and made me feel something. The sense of story was definitely there. It was sometimes unclear what exactly you guys were doing or how you met so I would have really enjoyed knowing more on your situation with them. Also if you still have contact with them or see them? A story of breaking friendship stereotypes is what I would take from that if there was maybe a tad more background information. I think with just a little more voiceover added, it could be something even more special. The old clips of you guys show me how you all interacted. So, visuals played a large role in this which is great but maybe it could also include text as a role. It is definitely impactful as it is now though as well. In Brandon’s film, the text was critical. It was nice to listen to. The feeling of loss comes around and hits you while watching. I like how this film is one that is what we typically think of when we hear the word "film". It has characters, a script, and video. These are not easy to create. I'm not sure if I just didn't notice it because I was paying attention to the words, but maybe some music would add to the mood of the scenes a little more. The video on TNT had a nice storyline. The movement between frames was smooth. There was a lot of just silence with background music towards the end though that maybe could be filled with some text or more sound. I would like to see some interaction between you and the girls! That would have a really personal effect. O negative started out and caught my intention right away with the very distinct sound I heard. The spoken text seems a tad bumpy but only at some parts. It begins to almost sound like a news cast with the papers rustling. One of the transitions between scenes was not smooth but maybe you meant to film it in this informal sense. I like the explanations given for everything. This video was very focused on spoken words but there were also visuals to follow which helped create a whole picture. In Sean’s, the beginning was hard to watch for me but that may just be a personal thing due to my eyes. Hearing the different voices and conversations happening was different. It kept me listening. It is almost hard to understand at some parts until the voice gets louder. The story is clear and the message is powerful. It makes you think about your friends and childhood which is nice to feel innocent again sometimes. The visuals were very real and you took us through everything nicely. I would say the storyline was my favorite part of this. Maybe the message of friendship and belonging could be displayed even more throughout the middle of the film.
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https://youtu.be/6kCW1zb3zrc
This short video project turned out being a very fun experience in our group! We decided to make a film that kind of ended up going full circle with a piece of paper. The objects we chose from the Pocket Scavenger! They were a coupon, a napkin, leaves, and an origami fox. I filmed the scene where the paper is picked up out of leaves and the scene where the paper is handed off to someone. I wanted to mostly just focus on the hands to make everything flow with the previous shots. I also wanted there to be noise from the leaves so I had them really dig in the leaves to get the paper to create the noise. For the last shot, which was really funny, she handed the paper she wrote "coupon" on to Brandon and he threw it on the ground. I focused on the hands again until it was handed off and then when he threw it on the ground I wanted to just focus on it laying there for a minute to mirror the first scene of the video. Everyone worked well together to make it flow. I also edited the clips a bit to make them clearer or focused. I did this just by simply using Instagram filters and editing. It was a fun experiment and the idea we had was creative. After it was layered all together and posted to youtube, I watched it a few times because I truly thought it was comedic in a weird way. the only difficult part was choosing how you wanted to filmy our scene. I got a few shots of each scene and then chose the one I felt fit most. This week we have been experimenting with video stories. After discussing these ideas in groups I think that mine will turn out nicely. My thought was to make a documentary type of video on where I grew up here in Johnstown. I was always surrounded by friend and neighbors and we actually ended up creating this movie for my neighbor to get into film school in California. It was showed to the town and we sent invites to the premiere. So that was a pretty neat experience so I was thinking about making a film about how we made a film I suppose.
There were a lot of kids on my block. Our parents all grew up there together and then they had us and we grew up together. That just does not really happen anymore. I spent everyday with them and we grew very close. Every Christmas everyone comes back home and we spend it together like no one ever left. Making this will maybe require some interviews and video clips from the film and us creating it. I have a lot of those things still. I have pictures from the premiere and a lot of things I could use so I think it will turn out well. I have been working on the script on how it will be narrated. For my sound story I wanted to make sure I did something meaningful so that people would wish to listen. I also had to decide if I was willing to open up about my relationship with someone. I was If it meant people could take something from it.
I had to take a lot of time to write everything out and fit it into the 5-7 minute range. I picked out the important parts and stuck them together in a sequence of events. After I had that all worked out I moved onto finding sound effects in open source data bases which also took some time. Editing everything together was probably the quickest part after I had everything planned out. Everything turned out how I imagined it would and the reactions I got from the feedback was very positive. They said they enjoyed listening to it and it sounded heartfelt. Someone also mentioned it made them feel like they want to find a love like this. This to me meant a lot because we always want our work to make people feel some type of way. So I was satisfied with the nice feedback I received. It was only about 30 seconds but it was nice to hear. I was nervous of it ending up too sappy or boring however when I had people listen to it some started to cry and that is just crazy amazing to me. https://youtu.be/aoTTRcvuPWs - manipulation
https://youtu.be/fqLhvTf554M - noise where found https://youtu.be/ubfqKnlu29A -making sound For this adventure I picked the object flat candy that was in a wrapper. I found it in my book bag an so then I recorded some sound in the room I was in because that is where I found the object. To make the object create sound, I sort of crinkled it in my hands. Then for the manipulation I chose "rub it on a rough surface" and I really liked the sound it made when I dragged it on the keyboard I was using so I recorded that! While it was interesting, it was not easy to decide what to do to make it create a cool sound. I tried a few different things before I settled on the ragging across the keyboard idea. The candy was like a lifesaver almost and in a clear wrapper so you could tell it was a green candy. Probably mint. It was impossible to open without scissors so I kept it in the wrapper which actually allowed me to 1. Eat it after I was done 2. Create cooler sound effects with it than what an empty wrapper would. It was fun experimenting and choosing which manipulation from the pocket scavenger to choose. On page 5 of The Pocket Scavenger, it says to paperclip the page and then choose an alteration of your own. I chose to actually add one of the bigger clips to it simply because I have some kind of obsession with using them and I think they are really cool. It made the book a bit heavier, not by much of course, but I still see it as an alteration. Now there is something done to the book that is semi noticeable from the outside of the book without having to open it which is different than the other alterations.
https://www.instagram.com/digitalstorytelling0495/
I was definitely nervous about doing the reverse chronological order with instagram! I thought about going in and posting them in reverse chronological order so that the reader would scroll through in chronological order but that seemed too easy. I was excited to see the reactions were very positive to the reverse order of my story. The readers said they liked how they could read it either way and it still flowed together well. So taking that risk payed off since mine was different. The story I was telling was a journey through my junior year of college in the Disney College Program which was magical and perfect in every way. I wanted to convey the feeling of magic through my pictures and I was happy to see the comments from the readers on how the pictures made them feel the magic and made them smile. I added the part about meeting my boyfriend down there not to be cheesy but to show just how much I gained from the experience and the readers seemed to like that part as well. If I could go back and change anything I would maybe just add some more format to the post maybe some space or something along those lines. I feel like instagram was a good choice though because I wanted everything to blend since it went by so fast. I was surprised at all the positive feedback since I felt as though I took a risk using instagram to tell a story that means so much to me. I used little words and I was happy I got to incorporate some emojis to just make it different and like a real instagram feed. To create the story I had to pick and choose what photos to use that really conveyed the time in my life. So that was the most difficult part. I also wanted to create some unity and I am glad some people noticed that I used the same filter and editing on every picture to create an "instagram theme". All in all I loved this project and being able to go though all my pictures again. I am so happy about the feedback. I created this story using Instagram to edit some photos of things I always shave with me that hold some sort of meaning whether it is in the past, present, or future. It was difficult for me to decide on exactly what I wanted to do but I went with a simple story of a time lapse from before I found something that really made me happy, to finding a place and person who makes me extremely happy. I used a slideshow effect and a little bit of text to tell my story.
Chelsea and I created this digital remake of Little Red Riding Hood together. We each had created a part of the story so that it would not be linear. I took the first half of the story sort of the "once upon a time" part and she took the "not so happily ever after" part. Once we each had created part of the story we wanted to tell we decided going from first person would be more effective. So we then meshed together our parts and surprisingly they fit well together. I enjoyed her kind of darker ending and it is how I imagined Big Red's story to end. I came up with the title just to relate it to the original in a way so that the story is recognizable as a remake. Chelsea did a wonderful job creating the gifs we found actors for that portrayed our story well. We wanted to make sure it was multi media. So all in all it was a messy process figuring out how we were going to make one story in a remixed way but it was fun and a challenge I would take on again. Enjoy!
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