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Tag: ds106

  • Final Weekly Summary: Creative Processes and my Story

    As this semester concludes, I have reflected on my journey of media analysis and creative storytelling. This process has allowed me to bridge the gap between my knowledge of technical media usage and narrative construction, which shows in my final project to explore the character of Kurapika from HunterxHunter.

    My Final Story

    You can read my narration and story creation here: Final Story: The Mystery of Kurapika.

    In this final story, I put my efforts to weave together written storytelling with various forms of media, including:

    • Original Backstory and After Story: I crafted an original origin story for Kurapika, imagining his life as an orphan before his canon events. Than after all of the cannon event concludes, I created a story of his life based on what I know about the character for an after story.
    • Audio & Visual Integration: The narrative i chose is supported by a audio track that explores his themes, video clips depicting his canonical struggles, and collected official and fan art to help visualize his unseen “after story”.

    Semester Reflection

    • What I Learned: This semester taught me how to approach media through a critical lens, using methods and ideas from those of Roger Ebert to deconstruct film, while also mastering the fundamental building blocks of using audio tell stories. I also used inspiration from other student examples from the audio, visual, and video assignments to understand further on how to expand my creations.
    • What I Would Do Differently: If I were to retake this course, I would have an even greater emphasis on the process of drafting and refining multimedia components of the assignments and lessons. This is so I can ensure the audio and visual elements feel as deeply integrated as the text.
    • Most Exciting Project: While the final narrative felt rewarding, the most exciting project for me was the photography-based “Design Blitz.” It pushed me to think about and apply principles like minimalism, rhythm, and symmetry to real world environments and photo which fundamentally changed how I view visual storytelling.

  • Journey of Cinema: Introduction to Video

    Introduction

    Over the past few weeks, I’ve moved from a passive moviegoer to an active “reader” of cinema. This journey required me to step out of my comfort zone, analyze the fundamental grammar of film, and apply these methods to my own viewing experiences. Below, you will find a summary of my work, reflections on the process, and a look at the challenges I encountered along the way.

    My Work Present

    To explore how cinema works, I completed the following assignments:

    • Reading Movies (Part II): I deciphered Roger Ebert’s essay on “How to Read a Movie,” where I learned techniques of attentive viewing, cinematic language, and the “stop-action” method.
    • Look, Listen, Analyze (Part III): I did a three-part analysis of the training montage scene from Rocky IV to see how editing, music, and framing shapes an audiences viewing experience.
    • Video Assignments (Part IV): I observed the anime character Rimuru Tempest and analyzed him in video format to show how I can apply those newly learned techniques in my own media.
    • Video Assignment Bank (8 Stars): These are video assignments I put together since they were small. It is apart of Part IV.

    Reflection

    I learned everything on screen is intentional. This ranges from every camera angle, cut, and sound choice to create the an emotional response from the viewer. I discovered how to find these techniques and how to create proper engagement.

    The “stop-action” method was difficult for me to engage with as it felt unnatural to constantly pause a film. This caused me to unengaged from a film as I focus on finding specific things within a scene. While that was hard, The three-part analysis was easier for me. Muting the audio had me find myself instinctively noticing framing and camera angles after reobservation with the scenes.

    What drove me crazy was the rubric to create a proper blog for the video assignments since there was so little to go off of. I enjoyed the Listen phase of the analysis. It is fascinating how much of a movie’s emotional heavy lifting is done by sound effects and score. Separating that layer revealed a totally different experience than watching the visuals, which I found to be a very eye-opening exercise.