Daily Archives: May 17, 2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zilJiD_rsLZ2GZxBi7OONb8FnmXY9NhcAZ2CysgugXg/edit?usp=sharing

The initial idea I had for my creative remix project was to make a video or slideshow version of my Black Panther/Black Lives Matter essay. Focusing on the music impacts which both movements created. Due to the fact that I was working individually I decided to take a different take on my project. I realized that I didn’t have enough time to create a project which had sound or videos. I decided to stick with the slideshow idea and instead write about some media which helped give the Black Lives Matter movement more attention.

In order to give my audience some background information about the BLM movement, the first two pages were strictly about its history and founders. The reason behind the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag coming around was, as a response to Trayvon Martin’s murder. Patrisse Cullors, one of the movement’s founders, had brought this hashtag to social media. This is when I would go and show quick facts about each founder, since this project was meant to be presented to someone who may not know a thing about BLM.

I had chosen this form of a medium since it would be very clear for any audience. With a slideshow there are many opportunities. I was able to add images to every slide to fit the description of what I had been talking about. An example of this would be when I chose to present how the song “The Bigger Picture”, brought attention to the movement. I chose to place an image of the song cover in order for the audience to have a better understanding of what I was talking about. I knew it was important to choose a topic which would be easy for me to find information on, but also attract my audience’s attention. With thai medium I was able to customize to my liking. To make it simpler for me, I chose a template on Canva which would fit the theme of my topic. Since I was writing about Black Lives Matter, a template with black and yellow coloring would fit in since these colors have been used to represent the movement. When visiting the official Black Lives Matter website, these are the colors that will be seen. 

Sticking to a multimodal mode would allow me to use images when converting the points I had made in my essay, into slides. Remediating the ideas which brought attention to the party would allow me to dig deeper into each point I had made in my essay. In my essay I briefly brought up the use of the hashtag, but in the remix I was able to give deeper information behind its impacts. The multimodal mode gave me a chance to change things around which I think made it simpler. Funding the right images wasn’t really hard since I already had an idea of what I wanted for each slide. Only thing I would’ve done differently if I did this again, is incorporating even more images, in order to make it more hands-on.

I like the idea of sharing the project with a space outside of the classroom but, I don’t think it’s ready. I know I could have added more aspects which brought attention to the movement. Or at least furthering my thoughts for the three ideas I chose, like adding more than one slide for each. If I decide on putting it out there for the public view, I definitely need to work on it more. The thing that stopped me from making it better was my lack of knowledge in the tech sense. My initial idea was to make a video where I can add sounds, like the voice of George Floyd saying “I cant breathe”, or instead of quoting Lil Baby’s lyrics I could’ve actually uploaded clips. I started to think that maybe working independently wasn’t so easy for me, and I had to stick to a simpler version. If I ever want to make this public, I will definitely have to take the time to learn these new skills. If only I had started earlier I could have taken the time to make my remix better.

Doing a remix of my old work was something very different, something I could put my own spin on. Now the difference between choosing the between projects was more of the creativity to it based on the information that I have researched and put together. Turn an old piece of writing from an earlier project and make it into something new and more interesting to look at. In the end I decided on doing my creative remix project on the Black Lives Matter Movement, scoping in on the effects such a massive movement had on the press/media of society. BLM’s focus has been less about changing specific laws and more about fighting for a reordering of society wherein Black lives are free from systematic dehumanization. The movement’s measurable impact on the political and legal landscape is undeniable. The BLM movement has succeeded in transforming how Americans talk about, think about, and organize for freedom.

I believe using a presentation on slides or PowerPoint is a more effective method of spreading your information to an audience. Additionally, I want my topic not to feel dry and boring. It is a serious topic and there is a lot of information given that would make people feel overwhelmed at once. Especially college students being one myself I know that they definitely do not want to read a bunch oof words in a presentation and would want to look at their phones instead. With that idea in mind, I opted to go for something that can be more appealing to my younger audience, being videos of past and current events of my topic. I want my audience to realize how impactful the Black Lives Matter movement was so much that it was covered over several news channels and broadcast that contained thousands of protestors rallying together. They say the phrase is a demand for equal treatment and an end to racism – because the lives of black people are just as important as those of others.

Sharing my work with others is the biggest part of the remix project. I am not too great with technology, so I went with a more effective approach of a PowerPoint with slides to demonstrate my knowledge of the topic I chose. Sharing a presentation outside a classroom would prove to be rather difficult but I can use it to spread awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement on social media platforms that are used every single day. Having open platforms to spread awareness is the best way for me to use my remix project to inform the public on my topic. I can only hope it sparks activity in other people to make a change for the better of society and improve the relationship between all races. My research can become someone else’s building blocks to a movement, which is my goal for sharing this project to the public.

Overall, I enjoyed this project and what it had to offer in terms of creativity and design. I was able to return to an old project and dive deeper into a subtopic of my choice and create a new project from it, a remix. Choosing the topic and doing research was not as complicated as my topic had been narrowed down and I knew what I had to focus on. Now choosing how to portray that information was the biggest challenge I faced as my lack of experience with technology began to show. I didn’t know how to go about using a program creating other types of media other than what I was familiar with, PowerPoint. Picking a medium and knowing what I was going to do with it I began to form my presentation to appeal to my audience and hope they take something from it. Black Lives Matter is a very well-known topic, but I always wondered just how much people actually knew about it. I wanted to express how big the movement is and what they are trying to accomplish in the end. I can only hope my presentation can be shown to anyone with creative ideals to turn it into something even bigger for the future and maybe a place in the movement itself.