Week 1 – Inanimate object story: Write a short story from the perspective of an inanimate object whose sole ability is to observe. What does the object witness? How does the nature of the object influence its observation? Include other media content to help communicate your story.
Hello, I am a Nikon D-750 DSLR camera, and I’ve been serving Doo as my master for about seven years. Believe it or not, Doo has taken more than 300,000 photos with me. Isn’t it amazing? When I started working with Doo, he was a graphic designer at Methodist University located in Fayetteville, NC, USA. I was a newborn camera at that time, and Doo was also a photography beginner. So, I witnessed that he struggled with taking photos correctly and messed up his photo assignments at the beginning. However, we went out so many photo assignments together and tried hard to take good pictures. I could feel Doo enjoyed working with me, so I was also happy to capture images through my camera lens and a sensor for him. Doo eventually became a good photographer, and I could also take good photos for him. I know Doo loves taking candid photos of people. He is good at capturing the emotions of people. I’ve seen and captured happiness, sadness, joy, surprise, excitement, and more feelings of human beings through my eye (lens) as Doo takes photos with me. In addition, Doo is very professional and tries very hard to take perfect shots of objects. Sometimes he holds me (even if I am heavy when I have a big eye) and stays still for a while to take photos, so I also try to assist him by fully operating the VR (Vibration Reduction) function so that he can take crystal sharp images. I took more than 300,000 photos, so it’s almost time for me to retire since I sometimes struggle with taking sharp images for him. However, I would like to stay with him and join his photography journey as much as possible. It was a true joy working with him and seeing the world as he sees through my viewfinder.
Week 2 – Inanimate Object Story:
Over the course of three sequential days this week, free write for a minimum of 20 minutes (each time) using the following three words as the starting point for each session: (1) Yesterday, (2) Today, (3) Tomorrow.
There are no rules with stream of consciousness writing; you just start writing and then try not to stop (within reason). Let your writing go wherever your mind goes. Don’t overly worry about coherence or structure. Ideally, you stop thinking too much and just let your mind do where it wants to.
Yesterday…………..it’s a bit hard to remember what I did every day because my current life is very simple and obvious. I just try to have my schoolwork done and look for job openings to see what positions will fit into me well. My neck and shoulder are very stiff, and it’s a bit hard to move. I didn’t realize it much, but this uncertain situation is very stressful for me. People tell me everything would be okay, but I am anxious and nervous to start something new that I am not good at it. I think I felt the same way when I tried to stay in the U.S. I had to leave everything in Korea, family, friends, school, someone I really liked…and start new from the beginning. I was also very anxious and nervous at that time since it was a big life changing decision…I also felt the same way when the time came to graduate from Methodist. My situation was very uncertain because I was an international student with H1B visa which I only one year of opportunity to have a job in the U.S. I was 30 years old at that time. It seemed like it was very late to go back to Korean and get a job. I decided to stay and try to find a job in America. It wasn’t easy…I had interviews with several companies, but I couldn’t get any job offer from any company. My time was running out. Fortunately, I got a job offer from Methodist with God’s blessing, but it’s the time I don’t want to go back. But, here I am again. I decided to leave the place I loved working for and joined Elon iMedia program to throw me in a challenging situation. I sometimes regret my decision because I am not sure if I can find a place I would love to work as much as I did for Methodist. However, I also don’t regret that I decided to join iMedia. I can find many opportunities. I just need to be more confident with what I am doing. I might end up doing something totally new, but it doesn’t matter. As long as I can show my capability and love to do…It’s just the uncertainty makes me nervous (20 minutes up. Now I am moving on).
Today………..hmmmmm today………….what do I need to do? What should I write about? I don’t know because my current life is not super various at this moment. It doesn’t mean that I live a boring life. No…I am super excited for my capstone project. I cannot wait to see how it would come out. Only problem that I have is to connect the volunteers for my video project. I plan to made several promo videos and an interactive video with Elon staff and students, but it’s a bit hard to connect with them. I worked at a university before I joined the iMedia program, so I know exactly how school staff and students will react to my email. I emailed several people explaining my project and asked them for a help…but someone of them just ignore my email and some of them think toooooo long and make me wait to hear what they can do. It doesn’t bother me too much since it’s something I expected. Even if I cannot find enough volunteers, it wouldn’t affect my capstone project that much…I have no idea what I am talking about right now. I am just trying to bring stuff out from my head. Bringing stuff out and writing my thoughts without rules and plan make me feel good. I am not a person who complain a lot, so I don’t tell these things to the other people. So, I think speaking out (actually writing down) my thoughts and feeling is helpful to burn my stress out little bit. Okay, now I need to plan what I need to do to move forward. What do I have? I need to contact more people to see if they are willing to participate into my capstone project. I need to work on some stuff for Lackaff’s class, some stuff for Motley’s class, some stuff for Rebecca’s class, some stuff to apply for jobs after graduation…hmmmmmmmmm……..okay. Not a big deal. It seems like it’s a lot, but not really. I can handle it. Oh…only about three months left until graduation. Time is running out, Doo!!! Don’t be too lazy. Get up from the bed. There is no time to watch TV shows. People think that I am a hard-working student, but that now 100% true…I like to…(hmmm…20 minutes up). I will leave this story as it is now. I am very curious what and how I would think if I see this after a week, a month, a year, and a decade…
Tomorrow…….I recently watched a movie, Tomorrow War, on Amazon Prime and it was super good. I love science fiction movies with aggressive monsters coming out, and the movie was just like that. Anyway, tomorrow…what do I have tomorrow…classes and more school works. I don’t complain this simple life because it’s something I decided to do. I wanted to move on and the Elon’s iMedia program was very interesting and appealing to me since I was very interested in the Marketing and Communications industry. iMedia will help me to learn how I can be a better visual creator in this field. When I worked for Methodist, I hit the limitation with what I can do as graphic artist. Methodist is a small school and small number of students with super old-fashion administrative. They were afraid of trying something new. They were not listening the voice from young and creative generation. I am not saying the traditional way is not working, but I hope the school at least tries to see the opportunities out there…I had a short break. What was I talking about? Ah, the reason I left Methodist. Yes, I had to imagine me in 10 years after at Methodist, and the future I imagined was not super exciting. I thought it’s time to move on in early 2020, and COVID-19 hit the world. So, I had to pause my plan little bit to see the situation. One year after, I could decide to leave the place and people I loved working for. I applied for iMedia program in early 2021 and got accepted with a generous scholarship. I informed the school in May that I am going to leave MU in a couple of months. Now I think I didn’t have to inform the school that early, but I worried about my team members that they would be swamped once I leave. So, I hope the school started the hiring process a bit early, so they can find someone who can replace my position sooner than later. Actually, my boss offered me a promotion when I told him that I am going to leave for school. I was very honored to see school wanted me to stay. But, I already made my decision at that time, so nothing can really change my mind. Now I am here and look for a new opportunity. I don’t know where I will end up at the end of this story. I am a bit nervous. I am a bit anxious. I am a bit worried. However, I am excited to see what to come next!!!
Week 3 – Non-linear Storytelling:
Choose a well known short children’s story, one that most people are familiar with (e.g., “The Three Little Pigs”). Retell the story, in a written outline format, so that the linear nature of the original story is reworked to make it non-linear. Good examples of non-linear style films include Memento, Pulp Fiction, and The Last Duel. It is possible to achieve a non-linear telling of the story by having the same story told from multiple points of view
(Point of view of the third little pig)
The third little pig was boiling water in a large kettle in the fireplace. Suddenly something fell into the boiling water. It was a big bad wolf. The wolf couldn’t get into the third pig’s house because the house was made of bricks. That’s why he tried to get into the house through the chimney. The wolf was suffering and crying in the hot boiling water. The third little pig was proud that he made a house of bricks so the wolf couldn’t blow it away.
(Point of view of the bad wolf)
In the boiling water, the wolf regretted that he was so greedy and came this far to eat another pig even if he was full. I was seeing his life flash before his eyes…
Before he came to the third little pig’s house, he went to the second little pig’s house. The second little pig was living in the house of sticks. The wolf threatened the pig that he would blow his house of sticks. The second little pig was so scared, but he could do nothing. The bad wolf blew the house away and ate the pig. He was so full…
The bad wolf was so full because he came to the first little pig’s house of straw and ate the first little pig as well. The house made of straw was so easy to blow away. The wolf was starving at that time, so he devoured the first little pig and left to find other little pigs.
(Point of view of the second little pig)
He found out the bad wolf was getting closer to the house. He was so scared. The wolf was trying to blow the house of sticks. The second little pig prayed that the wolf could not break-in, but the house of sticks was not strong enough. The wolf blew the house of sticks away with only a few trials. The second little pig regretted that he was so lazy and didn’t make a house of bricks just like the third little pig…
(Point of view of the first little pig)
The first little pig was so lazy. He was taking a nap in the house of straw. The first little pig didn’t know until the bad wolf blew his house away. The first little pig was so scared. He regrets that he didn’t make the house of bricks. The bad wolf was running toward him…he closed his eyes…
(Point of view of the mother of the pig brothers)
The mother pig saw off her little pigs leaving the house. She was so worried about the first and second little pigs because she knew they were lazy. The mother pig told them to be careful and build a solid and sturdy house to live in since it would be very dangerous out there. The mother pig couldn’t stop worrying about her little pigs…
(Back to the point of view of the bad wolf)
The wolf was dying in the boiling water…he barely opened one of his eyes and saw the third little pig and the mother pig were watching him dying…The bad wolf said, “…oh…my……” then he died.
Week 4 – Time Compression:
First, describe in as much detail as possible an actual physical event (rather than something mental or spiritual) that happened to you recently. It doesn’t have to be a complete story, but make sure that write what happened in such a way that your description has some kind of setup, the beginning; then a conflict or main action, the middle; and, finally, a resolution or outcome, the ending. Be methodical, even overly so, in your step-by-step account of what happened.
Second, create a story outline for the film version of this event. Consider the compression of time when you create the outline. What elements of the action can you leave out or make shorter and still maintain the overall communication of what transpired using a visual medium like film?
Public Good Project
I visited Niños de Nueva Esperanza (NNE) in Puerto Rico with the iMedia cohort and two faculty members including Christy, Ana, Diamond, Zack, Sophia, Ivana, Motley, and Booker in January 2020. Because of the national holiday, Three Kings Day, we could meet our client, Michelle, on the fourth day of the trip. We finally met Michelle and visited the NNE center on day 4. My job for that day was assisting Diamond with filming video interviews and taking some facility images and b-roll footage. We brought all gear for the interview and moved them to the lobby. Diamond and I were discussing where we should film the video interview.
Not long after we arrived at the NNE center, we heard the news that Maggie, a staff member for the other iMedia group, got COVID. Motley asked us our opinions and discussed with Booker. Our group had to wait outside until we decided how to handle the situation. We might have to leave the center depending on Michelle’s decision since we all contacted Maggie before we came to NNE. Motley informed Michelle, but fortunately, she was okay with it if we didn’t have COVID. As soon as we decided to stay and work on filming, we had to move fast since it was delayed because of the COVID event.
Diamond and I decided to set up the camera in the lobby area because the mural painting on the wall would be a great background for the interview. We set up cameras, lights, and audio for filming. It was very hot inside. There was no AC in the lobby, so I was sweating a lot. The inside was getting hotter, and roosters outside were crying. Anyway, we set up everything pretty quickly because all of us worked together accordingly. We were ready to film the interview with Michelle.
We checked the cameras, lights, and audio for the last time to see if everything worked properly. Everything seemed to be working good. We gave a sign to the interviewers Ivana, Sophia, and Ana. They were asking the questions prepared to Michelle. The interview was going very well. Roosters were still crying outside, and it was still warm inside the building, but no one complained about it. After Michelle, we interviewed two more people, and then it was over. After that, I also got some aerial shots of the facility and took some still images of the facility inside.
We were all very satisfied with our work since we believed we did a great job filming despite the other group’s unfortunate news. We came back to the place we were staying in Puerto Rico. After dinner, Diamond and I were checking the videos we got today. When we were checking the videos, we found out a big issue. The sound captured too much noise from the roosters outside. We consulted Booker to see if we could fix the sound, but he suggested rerecording the interview with Michelle because the noise couldn’t be easily fixed. We notified Motley and Christy, a project manager, that we might need to reshoot the interview with Michelle. Motley and Christy checked the video and sound together and confirmed if it should be rerecorded. Diamond and I discussed and decided to reshoot the interview.
We let Christy know that we should reshoot the interview, and Christy contacted Michelle and informed the issue to rearrange a video shoot. Michelle was okay with reshooting the interview…
Story Outline
Me: “Coooool~!! I love Puerto Rico.”
I was super excited to visit Puerto Rico for a fly-in project. We had Christy, Ana, Diamond, Zack, Sophia, Ivana, and myself in team Dorado. Motley and Booker were the faculty members of our team. We had such a great time for the first two days in Puerto Rico since it was a national holiday when we got to Puerto Rico.
Me: “Hello, Michelle! It’s very nice to meet you in person finally.”
We met Michelle over Zoom a couple of times, so I was very happy to see her in person. We went to the NNE center on day 4 for the first time. We couldn’t visit earlier because of the national holiday.
Me: “Wow, the center is bigger and nicer than I expected.”
We brought a bunch of camera gear for the project. We moved all equipment to the lobby first.
Me: “Diamond, where do you think we should film the video interviews?”
Diamond: “The lobby looks great. I liked the art on the wall. It would be a good background for the interview.”
I asked Diamond to see the best spot for filming the interviews today.
Motley: “Hey guys, please come outside.”
Motley called us to see outside. He seemed a bit serious.
Me: “What’s going on? I asked my team.”
Motley: “I got bad news. Maggie got COVID.”
Us: “……..”
Motley: “We need to decide what to do.”
We waited outside worrying we might not be able to do anything here. Motley informed Michelle about the news, and she was okay since none of us showed any COVID symptoms.
Motley: “We decided to stay here and work on the project as planned, but let’s be more cautious about it.”
Us: “That’s great!”
I helped her with setting up the cameras, lights, and audio.
Me: “Diamond, everything looks okay?”
Diamond: “Yes, I think we are ready to roll!”
Me: “(in mind) wow, it’s hot in here. The roosters will ever shut up?”
Me: “let’s double-check if everything works okay.”
Diamond: “That sounds great.”
Diamond and I checked if everything worked properly.
Diamond: “Guys, we are ready.”
Diamond let the interviewers know that we are now filming. We filmed three people today.
Me: “I think everything went great! What do you think, Diamond?”
Diamond: “Yes, I think so.”
We came back to our Airbnb where we were staying in Puerto Rico.
Me: “I will transfer the video and audio files to my computer. Let’s check the footage together, Diamond.”
Diamond: “That sounds great!”
Me: “It’s great…wait…what is the sound? Is it rooster crying? Okay, it might be okay…wait…again?”
Diamond: “… let’s check the video from the beginning to the end.”
Diamond and I noticed the roosters were crying the whole time in the videos we filmed today.
Diamond: “Let’s check with Booker what he thinks about it.”
Me: “Hey, Booker. Can you please check this out?”
Booker: “…Hmmmmm… it’s very bad. It might be too hard to get rid of the roosters from the audio. You guys may need to reshoot the video.”
Me: “(in mind) Oh…shit…”
Diamond and I showed the videos to Motley and Christy and asked what they thought about it.
Christy: “What do you think about it? If we have to reshoot this, I can rearrange a video shoot with Michelle.”
Motley: “Is there any good part so that we can shoot only certain parts again?”
Me: “I don’t think so…the roosters are crying the whole time.”
Diamond: “Booker recommended to reshoot the interview with Michelle since her interview is the most important part of the project.”
Motley: “It’s up to you guys. I support your decision.”
Diamond and I decided to reshoot the interview with Michelle as Booker suggested.
Me: “Christy. We are very sorry, but can you rearrange an interview with Michelle again?”
Christy: “No problem at all! I will do it right now.”
Diamond and Me: “Thank you! You are the best.”
Christy: “(on the phone) Hello, Michelle. We are sorry, but we have an issue with the video we recorded today. The roosters were crying the entire time in the video, so can we reshoot the interview with you?”
Michelle: “(from the phone speaker) sure, no problem at all. Maybe we film the video in other rooms in the building.”
Christy: “(on the phone) That’s great! Thank you for your understanding, Michelle!”
Diamond and Me: “Thank you, Christy!”
Humorous “How To” Step-by-Step:
In story panel format (think more like comic book panels instead of pre-production storyboards for film or video projects), create an over-the-top, humorous sequence of events that describe how you would do something mundane. Make sure that it is a physical act rather than mental — something that you could physically show if it was filmed. Your final sequence should be at least ten panels.
For example:
Point-of-view Family Event:
In storyboard format, visually describe an important family event from your life through the eyes of multiple participants. Think of different ways that you could do this. You might communicate the same sequence of events but from multiple perspectives sequentially; you might do so in a split or multi-screen approach similar to the typical Brady Bunch opening or the television series “24”; or you might do so in a continuous series of events but by cutting back and forth across multiple perspectives to communicate the narrative.
Narrative information design:
Choose a skill that you learned at some point in your life such as learning to ride a bike or how to drive a car or something similar. Make sure that what you learned was difficult, but also important to you. Tell the story of the sequence of events or actions that transpired as you learned the skill — and do so via an information graphic. It could be a static information graphic or a time-based / kinetic one. Either way it needs to tell the story of the process you went through to learn the skill.
How I Master Adobe Illustrator
Week 11: Final Project
This week’s journal assignment will explore ideas for the final project in this class. The final project will be a group assignment, and will focus on creating web-based multimedia websites that communicate the values and significance of the iMedia program in a way that might be persuasive for prospective students. The content can use any kind of media that you’d like, but must in some way incorporate information design / data graphics.
Before working with your group, or even being assigned to a group, I would like for each of you to use this week’s journal assignment to come up with a pitch for the project. What approach to storytelling would you take? In addition to information design or data graphics, what types of media would you include?
For the final class project, I would like to create an interactive story including a short bio of each cohort and class projects we’ve done so far using Ceros. We came to the program with different backgrounds, stories, skills, and knowledge. It would be great to collect the content from each of us and create interactive content in Ceros to share with prospective iMedia students. The interactive story will include text and visual materials such as research papers, posters, stop-motion videos, application prototypes, fly-in projects, etc.
We can have a short bio with headshot (portrait) images of the cohort on the very first page. As viewers click the picture, it shows a short bio (text or video) of the iMedia cohort.
The next page can have the list of the core classes with images of professors. Each item has a short description of the classes and class projects we created for the classes.
The third page can be dedicated to the Fly-in project. It can simply have some visual content such as photos, images, videos, and a website that we created for the project.
The last page can be about our career goals. It can show some information about what’s our career goals after graduation.
