Final Project

My final project was so much fun to make! I think what made it the most fun was that I was able to decide what I wanted to create, in all respects, so I got to choose to do whatever I wanted, however I wanted. I didn’t have to follow anybody else’s parameters but my own. This is a story of Jason Mraz and the journey through his most recent album, and recent tour through some parts of Europe. I hope others get to see the physical, as well as spiritual, mental, journey that Jason Mraz took through this album and tour. I hope the viewers get to see how much Jason Mraz loves making music and that through his music, he is able to make a difference in the world and inspire others along the way. To learn more about Jason Mraz, his music, and the non-profit organizations he’s involved with, or simply to find his next tour datese (which I’m constantly stalking), go to his website here.

Storytelling Relooked

This week, I went back onto my Week 3 Summary describing what I believed the definition of storytelling and digital storytelling to be. We were asked to reflect about this definition and if and how it has changed over the course of this semester. Looking back on my definition of digital storytelling, I think my concept of it has altered a bit. It is still college students, or in fact, anybody else in the world, no matter the age, sitting around by their computers, being encaptured by the stories that are being told through this form of technology. It’s a little different because now I totally understand how a story can be told digitally through different forms, such as audio, visual, or video. Before completing the Five Sound Story assignment, I never would have imagined how an entire story could be told through just a few simple sounds. But now I can!

Stuff Created

One of the most thought-provoking parts of this final week was to create new Daily Creates and assignment suggestions for future students and participants of this class. This was a cool experience because I got to think about what kind of Daily Creates and assignments that I really would have enjoyed making and what future students would also like to do. I created assignments and Daily Creates in different categories so as to provide some variety and give students different options to choose from.

Best Work

I couldn’t remember at first if I had put anything into my Best Work category. So while I clicked this button, I held my breath, hoping there was something there that I could work with. And, thankful, to my happiness, there was something there. And something great at that! I have two selections in this category: Character/Genre Mashup and a poster for How I Met Your Mother, the television show. Character/Genre Mashup was definitely one of my favorite assignments that I have completed this semester. It took one of the longest and required the most efforts, but in the end, I was super happy with the product. I combined romance scenes from all different varieties of television shows and movies. I used some of my favorite couples of all time, like Eric and Donna from That 70′s Show and Noah and Allie from The Notebook. I also got some feedback on this assignment, which rarely happens!

Advice To Future Students

Here is my video where I give advice to future students and participants of Digital Storytelling.

Final Reflection

Overall, this was a really interesting class that required lots and lots of time. It wasn’t just something you could sit down at a desk and be done with in 10 minutes. You had to give yourself at least a couple of hours to complete the assignments, especially if you wanted to do them well. I really enjoyed the idea and concept of this class but when you really got down to it, it was a lot of work. And if you’ve never done anything with programs like GIMP or Windows Movie Maker, etc., it takes a lot of time, practice, and effort before you really get a handle on any of those programs. But once you have it, it’s pretty easy to manipulate and there are resources alll over YouTube to help you figure out if you do run into any issues. Finally, it was a great class! And I’m so glad I got to complete my Arts: Process credit using this course. Cause Lord knows what would have happened if I actually had to draw things…. Let’s not even think about it.