Today, I did a final review of my project to make sure it was all complete. I also started working on the presentation of my project. My presentation is Friday and while my actual project is done, I hadn’t started working on what I actually want to present orally. I started working on presentation slides and will continue working on it later once I have my book. Finally, I started working on my reflection memo.

Why I Did It

I feel like I’m in a good place with my Project 3, so at this point I’m working on tying up all the loose ends for the course. I want to figure out a way to present my project that shows off my work but answers all the textbook questions, and I need to wrap up the final written portions of the project (the memo).

Today, I spent my 50 minutes revising my project. I went through the story paragraph by paragraph and edited it. I first edited for content, adding some to paragraphs that needed it, deleting a few parts, and revising confusing sentences. I then copy edited, looking for things like grammar and spelling.

Why I Did It

Since I didn’t get many major revision suggestions in peer review, the main focus of my revision is just fine tuning. Editing the story was a good start to this and helped me make my project cleaner.

Today, I worked on revising the body copy of my story. Over the weekend, I was able to do a rough draft on my project, which made me feel a lot better about where I am in the project. Today, I also worked on my references and how to include them. Most of my project is my own work. I wrote the whole story, and a lot of the pictures are ones I took myself. However, I did include some outside images and videos of Frozen and of Tech. I’ve decided to include an additional “chapter” at the end, like an appendix with my sources.

Why I Did It

I decided to include my references in a final chapter because I don’t want the citations to distract from the story, but they’re important to include. I think that this will be a good way to include all the necessary information.

Today, I continued work on drafting the copy of my story. Since I made an outline, I’m following along chapter by chapter to write my story about Frozen in Blacksburg terms. I also started using Illustrator to create some of my images. I’m using pictures of the Hokie Bird and “Hokie Girl” (representing Elsa and Anna) by using paint tools to update the current images of these characters.

Why I Did It

I started working on my images to try to get ahead of my plan, but I’m glad I did because I’m finding that the whole process is taking me longer than expected. I’ve never used Illustrator or my Creatavist tool before, so I’m finding unexpected constraints that are slowing me down. I’m hoping to continue working today and over the weekend to try to get in a good place with my story.

Today, I worked on the mock up for my project. For my mockup, I created a storyboard outlining the different “chapters” I want to include in my Creatavist story. I also began the preliminary draft of the actual text of my story.

Why I Did It 

It helped me to create a detailed plan for my project, because now I can get started on writing without having to constantly stop and brainstorm ideas. I then started drafting because I needed to jump into my project by just getting down words on paper. Now, I can work on figuring out visuals for my project.

Today, I worked on a rough outline that works as a very preliminary draft of my story. I figured out who the different characters would be in Blacksburg terms, and how to set the story “Frozen” in Blacksburg. I then sketched a brief storyboard of my remix to help me get an idea of how my project will work visually.

Why I Did It

Since this is a large project, I needed to get my thoughts organized before diving too far into it. By working on organization through both my visual (storyboard) and linguistic outlines, I have an idea of how my story will take shape. This helps me know what kind of visuals and audio to incorporate into my project.

Today, I got a little further at planning out my third project. I started looking at online platforms through which to tell my story, and I chose Creatavist and signed up for an account. I also made the following timeline to schedule out my work:

• Before class on Monday 11/10: Create rough draft of my new story – figure out what pictures/ videos I need
• M, 11/10: Mock-up, Storyboard, and/or Outline
• W, 11/12: Work on drafting project (in class and out)
• F, 11/14: Work on project (in class)
• Over weekend, before class Monday 11/17: Prepare rough cut
• M, 11/17: Presentation Sign-up
• W, 11/19: Rough Cut for Peer Feedback; Project 3 Revision Plan
• F, 11/21: Selfie showing yourself at work
• Over break: make revisions to projects, prepare for presentations
• W, F, M, W, 12/3-12/10: In-class Presentations
• W, 12/10: Project Due by 11:55 P.M.

Why I Did It

I chose to use Creatavist because it supports text, images, and audio – all elements that I would like to include in my project. I started planning out a timeline to keep myself on track throughout the project. By the end of the weekend, I want to have a rough draft of my story coming together so I can really get to work on Creatavist.

Today, I brainstormed ideas on how I want to present my project. I’ve decided to use the movie “Frozen,” and I think I would like to connect it to Virginia Tech. My idea for now is to connect Frozen to Virginia Tech, probably by doing a play off of Blacksburg weather. I also think that I want to use an online story-making site like some of the ones that were presented in P2, because I want to use mainly visuals and text. Today I also made a spreadsheet to track my sources and assets.

Why I Did It

I spent today getting organized because I want to have a good idea of the direction of my project. This way, when we have our first work day I won’t waste too much time coming up with ideas.