What I’ve done

I am still in the midst of my project and getting everything together. I have selected my video clips that I am going to use. I am in the process of putting them together and making sure the storyline still makes sense. This project is taking a little longer than I had originally expected, but that is because I am so new to video editing.

Why I did what I did

The main reason I want to use video is because I know the great effects it will provide. It will better engage the audience as far as the modes of communication too. I want to continue to use video until I run into any major issues.

What I Did

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.

Today I made the timeline for George Zimmerman via tiki-toki. As previously stated, I used a different email address to gain access to a second timeline. Next week, I will focus on how to combine the two (if possible) and work on commonalities.

For future reference, here is a list of my citations.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/borden/index_1.html

http://www.biography.com/people/lizzie-borden-9219858

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trayvon-martin-shooting-a-timeline-of-events/

I included the picture credits in my timelines as there was a space for them.

What I Did

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.

Since class was cancelled.  I decided to study in Turner’s place during my study break.  While I was there, I took some pictures to add to my project.  I took a picture of the girl next to me’s crepe.  She had already started eating it, but I think that a creative caption will allow that feature of the picture to help my presentation.  I took a few pictures of the overall dining hall.  Did you know that a line starts forming for Qdoba before it opens at 10:30?? Ridiculous!

 

Today I wasn’t in class because I was taking my GRE. However, over the weekend I prepared for missing class by working on my Pinterest boards. As of today I have successfully completed all of the family boards. I ended up going into more detail and adding more characters then I originally thought I would have on the boards. I think that by having additional characters I was better able to portray the main character’s families. On Wednesday I plan on working on some of the character’s individual boards. As well as double checking all the spelling and grammar on the boards that are already done.

Link to Prezi presentation: https://prezi.com/xrsxotrqyvyp/around-the-world-in-80-days/

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.

 

Today I worked on the actual Fakebook site and it’s kind of been a struggle. I tried to put in all of Belles “friends” and give them profile pictures but you can’t resize images on the site and sometimes it does something weird to the size of the photo you upload. It also won’t allow certain photos to be uploaded and randomly replaces the photos with a weird image from the site. Working with the rest of the site is pretty simple but I’m going to have to figure out a way around that constraint. I still need to add all of her friends, update her personal information, add a cover photo, and start writing posts on the wall but I have a pretty good start.

I also did a rough outline of my story on my storyboard to help me with the Facebook posts and the streamline of information I need to get on the page.

So far on my Remix a Story project, I’ve done the research I think I need on my story.  I’ve rewatched Pixar’s Finding Nemo, as well as an on-stage production of the story.  Also, I did some research on the various mental illnesses and disorders prevalent in almost all of the characters in the story, and I think i’ll try to highlight some of these mental disorders in my project.

As for a storyboard, I’ve found that I’m just more effective in just writing down text when I’m brainstorming and trying to figure out what direction I want to take on a project.  For this reason, I actually just created a Google Doc and started writing some of my thoughts down.  I’ve got a general background on the facts and plot of the story and how I’ll be converting what happens into things on Facebook.

Here is the link to the work I’ve done so far: https://docs.google.com/a/vt.edu/document/d/1mx5cj1y4QSz5wFPX8tmpUp7GN2DGFLhOWf2ywgtH9UE/edit?usp=sharing