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Paper 3/Digital Essay!
When I initially heard the term “digital essay” last semester, I was so confused. Do we write an essay (one in hardcopy), make a video, AND write an essay (typed)? Upon being informed that I misinterpreted the term, I was relieved, and I came to like the assignment very much, especially because I was able to pick a topic I had true, strong interest in. (I also really enjoyed watching other people’s videos; they were so well-done!) This semester, picking a poem as a basis for the digital essay/paper #3 doesn’t appeal to me the way last semester’s topic did. In general, I don’t really enjoy poems. I love song lyrics and maybe sometimes a poem might capture my interest, but I wouldn’t purposely read a poem, you know what I mean? However, the poem that I intended to base my digital essay and paper#3 is “Good Mirrors Are Not Cheap” by Audre Lourde. Out of the poems we read in class, the lines of this one caught my attention the most: “And the fault in a mirror slaps back, becoming what you think is the shape of your error. And if I am beside that self, you destroy me. Or if you can see the mirror is lying, you shatter the glass.”
Happily Confused?
I was really excited, yet nervous when I heard that we were going to be making a digital essay. Excited because I love working on creative stuff; but also nervous because I have never done it before. Before finding a poem to do my essay on, I wanted to first come up with a good solid thesis. After spending quite some time looking for a thesis, I’m still not sure what exactly I will write about or what poem I will use yet. I think that in order to be happy you need to be yourself – don’t let anyone tell you who you are or who you should be. You need to find yourself and figure out what makes you happy, because only you will know. Don’t change yourself to make others happy, be true to yourself to make you happy first. Of course, you’re not the only one in the world, but to make others happy, you need to first make yourself happy. Everyone in the world is different in one way or another; therefore, everyone’s path and journey to happiness also differs.
I grew up loving the sound of poetry, but I never fully understand the true meaning behind the poems I read or hear. I find poetry really beautiful, but working with it for a paper/digital essay seems a bit challenging! We’ll see how things go! 🙂
Video Project
I have not chosen a poem yet because i do not know how this will look like yet. Choosing a poem i think is the hardest because i cant imagine playing out the poem on camera. But with the way creative projects like this have worked for me in the past is to i guess just go with the flow. Make any idea i come up with and make it work. After all everyone’s work will be unique anyway why not shoot the video in the way you like… If someone likes animation, so be it, i for example would probably do just straight shooting.
Digital Paper
I’m actually kind of weary about this final paper assignment. I have no experience with video making/editing, and although Prof Kaufman says it’ll be a breeze I can’t help but think that it’s going to be a bit more difficult than she makes it out to be.
Although I am weary I can’t help but be a bit excited because there are already thoughts going through my head as to how I want my video to look, the only downside is that I know my thoughts — considering the eccentricity of them — won’ t be so easily depicted in front of a camera. Maybe after this assignment I’ll be inspired to become more technologically savvy in regards to camera, picture and film.
I haven’t really decided which poem I want to choose for my paper yet, although I’m still considering Anabel Lee. Anabel Lee has been my favorite poem since my AP Literature class in high school, there’s something about the way my teacher read it to us that just captivated me…
Late Post
I hope everyone had a great spring break!
Sincerely, I am not sure what to think about this new project. I really like the essay assignment, and I’m eager to discuss a poem and be able to write about it in a different form! but the video has me climbing the walls. In school every time we had to make videos I was the person acting because I really don’t know, and therefore don’t enjoy, anything about making videos.
This time, I have a cool idea but I’m nervous about the process, I just hope to be able to finally learn how to make a video and make a good one for this project!. I really look forward to tomorrow’s class with Luke Waltzer. Although I’m a little scared that I have not decided my poem yet.
Anyone who shares the feeling?
Blog post 6-late, as is my nature
I’m having a hard time selecting a poem to explore through digital essay. We did something similar to this in senior year, but with Macbeth and in groups of 4. It took a really long time to complete that assignment, and while I wasn’t the one responsible for the technological aspects of the project, it seemed incredibly complicated. I’m glad that Luke, the messiah of all things digital, is coming in tomorrow to help us figure it out.
As of now, I think that the poem I am considering more than any others we’ve studied or I’ve come upon is Whitman’s “Native Moments”. For whatever reason, it has always resonated with me. I think I need to keep searching though, and will try to have a better idea of what Originally, the concept of choosing a song appealed to me. I think my appreciation of poetry has been colored by a bad experience with T.S. Eliot’s epic “The Wasteland”, so I was less than thrilled when I realized our final assignment focused on this literary style. Thus, the knee jerk reaction to scan my ipod first-I was thinking maybe CocoRosie or Neil Young. However, I think it would be more of a challenge to try and really get into a poem, derive its essence, and turn it into something than to go through the motions with something I already love.
I’m not sure of the poem yet because I think it’s important to think of my thesis first, so I don’t want to state anything definitively. If I figure anything out today, I’ll post again. Otherwise, I’ll start focusing on an initial idea, if only to watch it evolve.
Cannot wait to make the Video!!!
OMG!!! I totally forgot to do this blog!!! I guess I am so into Spring Break! I didn’t realize we have a blog due for last Friday until my friend remained me this morning 😛 Anyways, I still wanted to post this blog for I really look forward to this fun project.
Over the past week, I was searching for short video clips and ideas online. And now I have many interesting ideas in my mind and I cannot wait show them in my video! However, I am still undecided which poem I am going to work on. I still have to work that out with my partner. Since this is my first video project, I would like to do my best and try to make the best of it. I feel both nervous and excited for this project. I remember when the first time I heard that we have to do a video project, there was a panic in my heart. I thought it will be very difficult and I actually didn’t want to do this. The fear has gone away a little and I have little confident now. And I really hope with Luke’s help, this project would become easy and fun to me.
This is one of the video I found. I think it’s very creative. The theme is about “the power of communication.”
Enjoy! http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Jnu9KEzm8Xo/
Enjoy rest of the Break
Blog Post # 6
I have no idea what I would like to focus on for my final essay and digital video. However, one thing that has greatly interested me is the poem about mirros we had read as a class dealing with the subject of self image. Yes, its a well discussed topic and yes, we all hear about it all the time to the point where no one really cares. However, what I have started searching are highly retouched photos that are given out to the public which train our eye to believe these photoshopped images are ”real” and ”beautiful.” What ever happened to beauty in the eye of the beholder? Well with the magazines and catalogs provided to the average consumer, the image of beauty is given to us, though what we think is beauty is probably impossible to achieve. Just take a look:
When you look at this image, its actually really hard to point out whats wrong with it. This is because we have learned to accept the images sold, and are used to this ideal image of being thin, and beautiful. I highly doubted this girl needed editing anyways. However, this strive for perfection has caused an obsession with retouching. Now, I bet if I didn’t point out the right of the picture, you would never realize that her waist is not proportional to her lower waist. I mean, shes thin to begin with. Why alter the image further? Its quite amusing actually. But I guess we as viewers and consumers see this as an ideal image to sell products, and the mistakes made are minimal because its normal to be ”photoshopped.”
It gets even more amusing:
When looking at this image its apparent, she missing an arm!!! How could the publishers not even notice? Well I guess that’s not important as long as her waist is almost unrealistically thin and her cleavage are noticed. So, what I was wondering was: were her arms so large, that one had to be edited out completely? Haha, who knows. I’m pretty sure this went unnoticed by VS consumers as well because that’s not the obvious focus here. Remember ladies : ”The arm wasn’t important anyways. It’s the shirt we’re selling here, right?”
I wish people would realize that retouched photos are all over, the attempt to look like these images is impossible, so why try? I also wonder when something will ever be perfect? It seems as if the world’s most beautiful people are endlessly retouched, never ending this determination for looking perfect. Will being beautiful make you happy? ( Just a random thought) I want individuals to be aware that though they know most of the photos they look at are retouched, why do they continue to look at them, and want to become or resemble this when it only exists in the world of technology? Mirrors is a great poem to relate this to because people look at themselves in unsatisfaction knowing they do not look like the ideal image they want to be, without realizing this is not something even the world’s most famously- known- for -beauty people look like.
Here are other pretty interesting images I noticed, that maybe people should take a look at :
Digital Essay…
The digital essay seems like an interesting idea. I will get a chance to show my creativity to the other members of the class. The videos from last semester are short, concise, and overall enjoyable to watch. Choosing one specific poem for the essay will be problematic because there are just so many poems that can be found on the internet. In ways I feel anxious (as I always do) about the digital essay, will it be good enough?, will it fit within the time allotted, will I be able to collaborate with another member of the class, etc. At this moment in time, the digital essay seems foreign to me, but hopefully as time goes by I will be comfortable doing it.
Creatively Ambigious
In this society, where everything seems to just revolve around education and work, people often lose their sense of creativity. What is creativity you ask? Creativity is the ability to use your mind to make nothing into something. Everyone views life differently, some more creatively than others. Some might see a cloud as just a big blob of white/gray while others might see that same cloud as a frog/bunny. Creativity is all in the mind. Nowadays it is harder to be creative because we’re always listening and being influenced by some type of authority. Parents, teachers, priest, newscasters, everyone tells us what to believe. The educational system restricts our creativity by being so structured and clear about everything. For homework assignments, papers, tests, projects, there’s always a format to follow, rules on how things should be done, etc. If professors and teachers didn’t give us so many guidelines and rules to follow we would have more freedom to be creative. I also think that the more we learn, the less creative we become. Education takes away from our creativity because it tells us what to do and what not to do, what is right and what is wrong, what this is and what that is. To be creative you need to let your mind think freely, and all the rules and knowledge we gain stands in the way of our creativity. Education draws a box, we think within this box, we refuse to let our thoughts cross the walls of this box; but when we think outside the box out true creativity shines.
