Today I spent my class time writing my reflection memo. It was fairly easy to come up with the content, but I was very thorough in my memo, so it took the whole class. I loaded my presentation and examined it as I wrote my memo to ensure that I did not miss any features of my Prezi project. I also looked at possible ways to cite my sources.

Why I Did It

The reflection memo was required, but I examined my presentation so that I would be able to better reflect upon my project. Looking at certain elements reminded me of the tools I used and challenging that I faced when creating this project. I also used the Writer/Designer questions to better guide the analysis of my own presentation. As for my sources, I plan on creating a slide at the very end of my presentation with all of the links to the photos that I used (which is going to take a while).

Today I finished the final part of the journey. I completed San Francisco and found some excellent pictures to accompany this section. I also finished New York and took a great video clip of the movie to show one of the most exciting parts of the Disney movie. However, I am having trouble deciding how to show London again, thus ending the journey. The area around London is already crowded, so I am thinking about placing the final leg near England in the Atlantic Ocean.

Why I Did It

The screenshots I have found thus far depict the journey very well! I am also very happy about being able to find a video clip that shows the flying machine that is created by Phileas Fogg in the Disney version of the movie. It goes very well with the flight plan that I created for this leg of the journey and got creative with the details. I am having trouble finding an appropriate way to end the journey without be able to show London again because it is already crowded with media from the very first leg of the journey, but will come up with an alternative solution.

Here is a picture of me and my  little dog, Foxy, working on my project together!

To amend this problem I have decided to reorganize the media associated with each city so that the presentation will zoom to a different frame. I will limit the amount of images that the frame focuses on for each leg of the journey to prevent as much clutter. This makes it easier for the reader to follow the journey, comprehend all of the associated images, and read the short description of each leg of the journey. I now have a basic outline of where the journey is headed, so I am able to determine which parts of the map are in use and which parts can be used to diffuse the clutter.

I will also work on organized the media I have imported so that it is easier to identify with a particular city. While most of my images clearly relate to a specific city, some images could be confused for being associated with another leg of the journey. I will use proximity and alignment to make it more clear which images are associated with which leg of the trip.

Today I solved the problem of crossing the International Date Line and started working on the ‘other’ side of the map, showing the journey arriving in North America. I labeled the International Date Line and zoomed in from Hong Kong, China to a large area with an arrow in the Pacific Ocean. Then I had the presentation zoom to the other side of the 2D map and started work on the North American leg of the journey. As far as documenting sources, I plan on placing a text box in the corner of the map and then zooming to show the sources after the journey has been completed.

Why I Did It

I had to include a way to show the International Date Line because it is important to the story. I did not want to zoom in on the corner of the map because it would look awkward, so I set the frame to include Hong Kong, China and the IDL, along with an arrow showing that the journey is going through the Pacific Ocean. The path then quickly jumps to North America, so although it does backtrack, it goes quickly enough that it does not detract from the journey. Finally, I think that placing the sources in corner will be similar to a works cited page, being displayed following the content itself.

The basic structure of my project is essentially complete, so now I just have to continue completing parts of the journey until I am finished. Today I completed Bombay, India and Hong Kong, China. I am still deciding how to show the journey jumping back to the other side of the map, while also showing the International Date Line, which is an important element of the story.

Why I Did It

As I said, the outline of my project is finished and now I have to continue completing cities that are part of the journey. I have only a few cities to go before I am complete, but will have figure out a way to show the travel crossing over the International Date Line, which is tough because the map is 2D and ends at the International Date Line. I will most likely edit the path in Prezi so that it simply zooms over to the other side of the map.

Today looked at ways of better representing the cities on my map, so I decided to find postcards from each city to place near its marker on the map. The result has been great and I think it ties in perfectly with my theme. I also began writing short descriptions for each leg of the journey. I had completed a few in the past when I made my rough cut, so I decided to complete this part of my project for the other cities. This has been an interesting part because I am having to decide where the journey should go based on parts of the other stories I am combining. When I decide what path the journey will continue in, I have to choose what happens on each leg of the journey.

Why I Did It

The postcards were a great addition because not only do they identify the city on the map, but they tie into the theme of a journey. It is like the main characters collected these postcards from each city that they stopped in. I had to wait to complete the descriptions until now because I needed to determine a direction first. If I made my journey go in one direction and referenced a particular leg of the journey, it might not have made sense if I didn’t already know where the journey was headed. All three stories have a somewhat similar plot, so I have tried to tell the basic plot of the story through these descriptions.

What I Did

I have continued to add cities on the journey. Today I found a YouTube clip from the Disney movie that perfectly animates that leg of the journey for the audience. I have also worked with PhotoShop to edit the FAA Flight Plans and a train ticket. I used examples online to help guide me in completing these. I tinkered with the presentation side of my project, adding invisible frames that zoom in on particular parts of my project, and altered the path that my content will be displayed.

Why I Did It

The journey is roughly half way complete at this point. I still have some details to fix on all of the cities that I have completed, including cluttering issues. However, the project is going smoothly. The flight plans add a nice, authentic touch to the journey and there is a “Remarks” section on the flight plan that I have edited to act as a journal for Phileas Fogg at certain points in the trip. The train ticket works in the same way, giving a realistic feel to parts of the journey, as opposed to just screenshots from the movies. I am having some difficulties displaying my content because the first few cities are so close that the content runs into each other and makes it distracting to focus on one section of the journey. I will have to alter the frames and the content to remedy this problem.

For my mock-up I completed a few legs of the journey for my Prezi presentation. I selected a large world map as the background for my presentation, which is perfect for what I am trying to display. I used Google Maps to properly identify the location of select cities on the map and labeled them with text. Then I found and chose screenshots from the movies to represent certain legs of the journey. I also found pictures of tourist attractions to place next to each city. For instance, I found a clipart picture of Big Ben to place next to London.

Why I Did It

Instead of making an outline of the journey, I decided it would be more beneficial to complete a few stops of the journey. I plan on using a consistent outline for each city, so completing multiple cities would help me identify what issues I might run into along the way. It also allows my peers who will review my project a chance to see what my project will look like better than if I had just created an outline of the journey itself. It is easier to fill in what the other stops of the journey will look like if a few of them are completed, rather than showing where the journey will be taking place.

So far I have decided what tools I will be using and the basic storyline of my project. I have also decided what materials I will need to complete this project, but have not started gathering them. I will need a copy of the 2004 and 1956 movies to take clips or screenshots from (possibly a YouTube video or DVD copies of the movies), a source of screenshots that are already posted on the internet (most likely from Google image searches), and a reference of the travels in the original novel, which I believe I have already located.

On Friday and this weekend (11/7-11/10) I will work on creating a rough draft on Prezi what I would like my project to look like. I will choose or import a layout and possibly add some potential screenshots to get an idea what the layout will look like.

The next step would be to research all three versions of the story and create an itinerary, selecting legs of each journey to include in my project so that I can ‘remix’ the story. I will create an informal itinerary by 11/12-11/14.

Then I will begin the in-depth work on Prezi, first by creating a frame of the entire itinerary. Because my layout will most likely be a map, I will start by selecting points on the map that will designate where I will be importing video clips, screenshots, and flight plans. I will complete this by 11/19.

I will then begin importing all of the media that I have collected and this should take me from 11/21 until the rest of the time that we have to work on the project (12/3-12/10). I think that I should have plenty of time to complete this project because I have began watching Prezi tutorials and am getting used to the program. I am familiar with the other tools, MovieMaker and Snipping Tool, so it will really come down to the grinding work of finding particular clips that match which section of the itinerary I am trying to reference.

My plan is to use an interactive map or flight planning forms to create an itinerary that depicts the journey that the main characters travel. I can also use clips of the movie to supplement the itinerary I will create so that the user can get a better idea of what the journey looked like. I don’t plan on changing the plot of the story as much as I am planning on changing how the story is told. Much of the journey in the 2004 movie is by hot air balloon or a makeshift flying machine. To depict these specific parts of the journey I will complete FAA Flight Plan forms, which I think will also tie into the overall theme of my WordPress site.

FAA Flight Plan Form:

IMBD Link to the 2004 Movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327437/

IMBD Link to the 1956 Movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048960/

Wikipedia page for the Jules Verne novel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days