Digital Storytelling (ENG 3960)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hayow8sv0i1TbLwjBcIGIt8lL5VPLi30/view?usp=sharing

Following

As someone who loves editing videos, I knew this would be time-consuming, but I also foolishly assumed that It would not be hard as I have some experience with editing in iMovie. I was wrong. Firstly, it was extremely difficult to come up with a topic. It usually helps me if the task is more narrowed down than something personal. I think I finally understand the saying that too much freedom is scary (this is just like choosing a major). The videos I usually edit are already well put together, all I need to do is match the music with the video and chose the best scenes. Making a video from scratch is much harder. But the videos from StoryCenter were helpful as they gave me a standard that I could aim to achieve. Unfortunately, I did not have enough pictures of the memories I talked about. I know now that if I could I would take specific pictures that would work perfectly with what I have to say. I wish I could have included them but since I could only take these pictures outside of NY I can’t really do anything about that. I found my project idea to be too personal and at times I was questioning myself and if it’s right of me to share what I’m sharing. I think I made this video mainly for myself. It felt nice to talk about my feelings, I think it helps me cope with my fears.  I wanted to make a video about my grandmother who passed away a few months ago, but I decided that is still too painful. It might always be too painful to talk about.

I think choosing the music was my favorite part. I had 4 tracks in mind all by Audiomachine (a bunch of composers that are amazing) from the album La Belle Epoque which is very uplifting and filled with a sense of nostalgia for a better time. I decided on The Shores of Forgiveness composed by Thomas-Adam Habuda.

I cut out two sentences of my monologue that I thought were unnecessary and didn’t really fit in with the rest of the story. I also adjusted the volume of the music (from 16% to 10%) as suggested by my group members and moved the wind soundtrack to the end so that it doesn’t overpower my voice.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CGLjWkBOtiJZ0YZAvNRuEXYz6LtZsGeB/view?usp=sharing

As someone who loves editing videos, I knew this would be time-consuming, but I also foolishly assumed that It would not be hard as I have some experience with editing. I was wrong. Firstly, it was extremely difficult to come up with a topic. It usually helps me if the task is more narrowed down than something personal. I think I finally understand the saying that too much freedom is scary (this is just like choosing a major). The videos I usually edit are already well put together, all I need to do is match the music with the video and chose the best scenes. Making a video from scratch is much harder. But the videos from StoryCenter were helpful. Unfortunately, I did not have enough pictures of the things I talked about. I wish I could have included them but since I could only take these pictures outside of NY I can’t really do anything about that. I found this project too personal and at times I was questioning myself and if it’s right to say what I’m saying. I think I made this video mainly for myself. It felt nice to talk about my feelings, I think it helps me cope with my fears.  I wanted to make a video about my grandmother who passed away a few months ago, but I decided that is still too painful. I think choosing the music was my favorite part. I had 4 tracks in mind all by Audiomachine (a bunch of composers that are amazing) from the album La Belle Epoque which is filled with a sense of nostalgia. I decided on The Shores of Forgiveness composed by Thomas-Adam Habuda.

I don’t really have any questions but I’m definitely open to any suggestions.

Podcast on Thoughts & prayers

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SPEBIp67465i7l54K6HJ4K0vto1_Q6K6/view?usp=sharing

My podcast focuses on the song Thoughts & prayers by grandson. It’s a song condemning the modern passive behavior of the government when it comes to dealing with mass shootings. This is a serious topic that so I tried to have a serious tone. At first, I wanted to do a personal podcast about my grandfather. At the same time, I knew that if I were to do a social issue podcast I already had two songs in mind. Then after I spent some time thinking about what I should do I realized that my grandfather doesn’t speak English so I can’t really include his voice, and not including his voice would be like removing an essential part from the podcast. So, I decided against doing that. A podcast about a song seemed like an easier choice because I already had the idea in mind and I’ve listened to Thoughts & prayers like a million times.

The first step I took was thoroughly reading the lyrics of the song and then listening to it many times while cutting it up. That helped me find the parts that I would include in the podcast. Then I came up with the script and then recorded myself several times dividing the parts of the script. The podcast came out to be nearly 8 minutes long so I had to do some more cutting up on iMovie. I used iMovie because I’m more familiar with it than GarageBand. I also tried boosting the volume of my parts and lowering the volume of the song to make the overall volume about the same. My voice seemed monotonous or grey or lacking something, so I decided to add some music in the background. The track playing in the background is actually a cut out from Thoughts & prayers repeated over and over again, like a remix. I tried making the background music as quiet as possible not to make it distracting, but since it is an actual part of the song I am talking about I feel like it only adds to the podcast, not vice versa.

Using only the sound felt very limiting. I need the visuals because they allow more room for creativity. I feel like children in school from an early age are taught to express themselves more with visual art, rather than vocal art. And I feel like because we have more experience with visual art it’s easier to present ideas in a creative way visually for most people. I’m not good at public speaking and I don’t normally talk a lot. I feel like there isn’t that much I can do with my voice. I did not really mane any adjustments to my podcast based on the feedback I received.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SPEBIp67465i7l54K6HJ4K0vto1_Q6K6/view?usp=sharing

My podcast focuses on the song Thoughs & prayers by grandson. It’s a song condemning the modern passive behavior of the government when it comes to dealing with mass shootings. This is a serious topic that so I tried to have a serious tone. At first, I wanted to do a personal podcast about my grandfather. At the same time, I knew that if I were to do a social issue podcast I already had two songs in mind. Then after I spent some time thinking about what I should do I realized that my grandfather doesn’t speak English so I can’t really include his voice, and not including his voice would be like removing an essential part from the podcast. So, I decided against doing that. A podcast about a song seemed like an easier choice because I already had the idea in mind and I’ve listened to Thoughts & prayers like a million times.

The first step I took was thoroughly reading the lyrics of the song and then listening to it many times while cutting it up. That helped me find the parts that I would include in the podcast. Then I came up with the script and then recorded myself several times dividing the parts of the script. The podcast came out to be nearly 8 minutes long so I had to do some more cutting up on iMovie. I used iMovie because I’m more familiar with it than GarageBand. I also tried boosting the volume of my parts and lowering the volume of the song to make the overall volume about the same. My voice seemed monotonous or grey or lacking something, so I decided to add some music in the background. Also, I feel like my accent is more exposed in a podcast then when I speak when communicating with others (and yes everyone has an accent, but I still don’t like mine). The track playing in the background is actually a cut out from Thoughts & prayers repeated over and over again, like a remix. I tried making the background music as quiet as possible not to make it distracting, but since it is an actual part of the song I am talking about I feel like it only adds to the podcast, not vice versa.

Using only the sound felt very limiting. I need the visuals because they allow more room for creativity. I feel like children in school from an early age are taught to express themselves more with visual art, rather than vocal art. And I feel like because we have more experience with visual art it’s easier to present ideas in a creative way visually for most people. I’m not good at public speaking and I don’t normally talk a lot. I feel like there isn’t that much I can do with my voice.

Questions: What part should I cut out to make the podcast shorter? Is it okay to have low volume music in the background (I could make it even lower)? Do I need to introduce myself in the beginning as I did, or is it better to remove that part?

Unnoticed Sacrilege

All of the images I’ve used are of a little Ukrainian town Pidhaitsi (Podhajce) where I grew up. This place seriously lacks entertainment establishments. One has to find other ways of amusement. I did. I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out around these sacred ruins and thus they play a significant role in my shaping my tastes and views which is why I wanted to create a story about this place. My story centers on the idea of a state of decay. Unnoticed sacrilege is compiled of traces of the past that are found in the little town. All of the photos show a similar story of disregard by the local population. It is my attempt to show the glory of the past in the old monuments. To show the bitterness and cruel nature of time.  To show the ugly reality of neglect and abandonment. To show that we should care to fix what we have broken.

The first image depicts the town itself. The second image is of a door or an entrance to an old villa that even though is still used, is not properly preserved. The third image is of the same villa but focuses on a stone statue of a lion which gave the house its name. These pictures show structures that are still very much used. Then the story moved on to a picture of a Church that was used as a bathhouse but is no longer used even as that. Followed by pictures of a church and a synagogue of great national and historical value completely not in use. The ninth picture shows a gate that was recently made. It’s very distinct and clear. It’s the only step that the people have taken to preserve anything in that place. It just stops teenagers from entering the structure and leaving a trail of injecting needles on the floor. Sadly, I don’t have a picture that would show these traces. Lastly, I chose a picture of the oldest item and the least preserved item. It’s a stone cross that stood next to a monastery. You can’t even properly see the cross in the picture because of the surrounding grass. I chose this picture because it is the only thing that is left from the monastery with the structure gone. It kind of serves as a warning that other structures could share the same fate. I chose a black & white filter because I tried to give the story a serious and tragic undertone.

For the revision, I changed the title of the photo story (i thought that would be easy first but ended up spending over an hour just thinking on it). I added my name and added an intro paragraph. I  removed a self-effecting note about the quality of the photos that I included in the project. I also tried centering the text a bit more so that the slides are as consistent as possible.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19UBU73BjYGZobGP2kAlQkjF_Vj081Xu3tjHxMiPs4II/edit?usp=sharing

Composer’s letter: A Place of Sacred Ruins

All of the images I’ve used are of a little Ukrainian town Pidhaitsi (Podhajce) where I grew up. This place seriously lacks entertainment establishments. One has to find other ways of amusement. I did. I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out around these sacred ruins and thus they play a significant role in my shaping my tastes and views which is why I wanted to create a story about this place. My story centers on the idea of a state of decay. A Place of Sacred Ruins is compiled of traces of the past that are found in the little town. All of the photos show a similar story of disregard by the local population. It is my attempt to show the glory of the past in the old monuments. To show the bitterness and cruel nature of time.  To show the ugly reality of neglect and abandonment. To show that we should care to fix what we have broken.

The first image depicts the town itself. The second image is of a door or an entrance to an old villa that even though is still used, is not properly preserved. The third image is of the same villa but focuses on a stone statue of a lion which gave the house its name. These pictures show structures that are still very much used. Then the story moved on to a picture of a Church that was used as a bathhouse but is no longer used even as that. Followed by pictures of a church and a synagogue of great national and historical value completely not in use. The ninth picture shows a gate that was recently made. It’s very distinct and clear. It’s the only step that the people have taken to preserve anything in that place. It just stops teenagers from entering the structure and leaving a trail of injecting needles on the floor. Sadly, I don’t have a picture that would show these traces. Lastly, I chose a picture of the oldest item and the least preserved item. It’s a stone cross that stood next to a monastery. You can’t even properly see the cross in the picture because of the surrounding grass. I chose this picture because it is the only thing that is left from the monastery with the structure gone. It kind of serves as a warning that other structures could share the same fate. I chose a black & white filter because I tried to give the story a serious and tragic undertone.

I don’t really know If the texts I used to describe the pictures are right. Am I formatting the slides wrong? Also, it kind of feels like a bunch of pictures put together even though I intended a narrative.

 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19UBU73BjYGZobGP2kAlQkjF_Vj081Xu3tjHxMiPs4II/edit?usp=sharing