WHY I WRITE
The Question
"Why do you write?" It seems like an easy question for a writing minor. Clearly I must hold some intrinsic reason for writing, especially since I've chosen to devote time and effort to an entire minor on the subject. But when given this assignment, I became really introspective, trying to decide what it was that classified me as a writer. Through the process of completing this assignment, which asked me to give an argument for why I write through a paper or multimedia project, allowed me to learn new skills by producing a video as well as gain a deeper understanding of who I am as a writer and where I want my writing to take me.
The Process
I originally decided to create a film using quick drawings to animate my points. This can be accomplished by illustrating points while an assistant takes photographs of your work every one or two seconds. These images are then spliced into a fast-paced video and audio is recorded and placed into the movie. After creating my storyboard, however, I realized that my drawing skills were pretty sub-par and that my points could be better illustrated using artifacts and props rather than drawings. Each page of the storyboard below translates to about a minute of time during the film and all six drawings on each storyboard takes up about ten seconds apiece. I used the Garageband application to record the audio, magazines, printouts, previous work, journals, and construction paper to make the props, a camera with a tripod to take the photographs, and then I synthesized the audio and visuals using iMovie. Below you will find my storyboard, my storyboard with self-reflective comments about potential challenges and improvements, instructor feedback, and my original film. I later used further instructor feedback to revise the project, and my revision of the film is also below. Please enjoy exploring why I write!
"Why do you write?" It seems like an easy question for a writing minor. Clearly I must hold some intrinsic reason for writing, especially since I've chosen to devote time and effort to an entire minor on the subject. But when given this assignment, I became really introspective, trying to decide what it was that classified me as a writer. Through the process of completing this assignment, which asked me to give an argument for why I write through a paper or multimedia project, allowed me to learn new skills by producing a video as well as gain a deeper understanding of who I am as a writer and where I want my writing to take me.
The Process
I originally decided to create a film using quick drawings to animate my points. This can be accomplished by illustrating points while an assistant takes photographs of your work every one or two seconds. These images are then spliced into a fast-paced video and audio is recorded and placed into the movie. After creating my storyboard, however, I realized that my drawing skills were pretty sub-par and that my points could be better illustrated using artifacts and props rather than drawings. Each page of the storyboard below translates to about a minute of time during the film and all six drawings on each storyboard takes up about ten seconds apiece. I used the Garageband application to record the audio, magazines, printouts, previous work, journals, and construction paper to make the props, a camera with a tripod to take the photographs, and then I synthesized the audio and visuals using iMovie. Below you will find my storyboard, my storyboard with self-reflective comments about potential challenges and improvements, instructor feedback, and my original film. I later used further instructor feedback to revise the project, and my revision of the film is also below. Please enjoy exploring why I write!
Storyboard: Instructor Comments
Opening Comments: Katie, this is a lovely concept, and I'm excited that you've chosen this medium -- what was your motivation for going this route? Overall, I think this is working, but see my comments and questions on each page. I do think you could push the ideas you have here further, so as to go a bit more in depth. Nice start! Based on your description of your process here, I'm assuming you have experience with this form of writing, yes? I actually had not used iMovie or Garageband before, so this was a learning experience for me. Luckily, one of my friends in the School of Art & Design had done similar projects for class and was able to offer me tips and troubleshooting ideas.
First SRC: As a reader, I'd be interested in getting inside these statements a bit more. I think your goals are certainly stated clearly here -- but what about the right brain? surely there's passion and emotion behind these aspirations, no? Can you really separate things out as neatly as you do here? In my video, I worked hard to expand on the passion and emotion that the right brain has as well as bring both sides of the brain together in a better way than my storyboard portrays.
Second SRC: This is your call -- I certainly follow what you're doing with the toolbox analogy, and writing as a ladder, but I'd be interested to see the alternative picture as well. It's certainly worth playing around with some other options, and going with the one that feels the most compelling. What did your peer reviewers think? I ended up abandoning the toolbox analogy in my film, and using a different metaphor to illustrate my point. My peer reviewers thought the toolbox analogy was a bit out of the blue, and upon further reflection I agreed.
Closing Comments: Maybe play out these ideas about the right brain more fully? Is there a way to draw the right and left brain together in some closing images -- if that accords with your concept/experiences here? You might want to keep playing with these ideas a bit more to make them messier, and therefore more complex, before cleaning them up again, so to speak, for the actual video. The last page of my storyboard got cut off from submission to my professor, but I did want to pull both sides of the brain together more than my storyboard originally indicated. I feel I did this in my final draft.
First SRC: As a reader, I'd be interested in getting inside these statements a bit more. I think your goals are certainly stated clearly here -- but what about the right brain? surely there's passion and emotion behind these aspirations, no? Can you really separate things out as neatly as you do here? In my video, I worked hard to expand on the passion and emotion that the right brain has as well as bring both sides of the brain together in a better way than my storyboard portrays.
Second SRC: This is your call -- I certainly follow what you're doing with the toolbox analogy, and writing as a ladder, but I'd be interested to see the alternative picture as well. It's certainly worth playing around with some other options, and going with the one that feels the most compelling. What did your peer reviewers think? I ended up abandoning the toolbox analogy in my film, and using a different metaphor to illustrate my point. My peer reviewers thought the toolbox analogy was a bit out of the blue, and upon further reflection I agreed.
Closing Comments: Maybe play out these ideas about the right brain more fully? Is there a way to draw the right and left brain together in some closing images -- if that accords with your concept/experiences here? You might want to keep playing with these ideas a bit more to make them messier, and therefore more complex, before cleaning them up again, so to speak, for the actual video. The last page of my storyboard got cut off from submission to my professor, but I did want to pull both sides of the brain together more than my storyboard originally indicated. I feel I did this in my final draft.
Why I Write Film: Original Submission
Why I Write Film: Self-Reflective Comments
I decided that instead of exclusively drawing out my voiceover, I would incorporate newspaper clippings, photos, former pieces of writing and other miscellaneous memorabilia to complement my story. The trickiest part of this paper was the organization. I wrote out my story beforehand and had to make sure that I took all of the photos in the right order and were exactly how I wanted them, because once I scrapped a "scene" it was nearly impossible to recreate it (due to the angle of the camera, exactly where pieces were placed on the table, etc.).
My peers said that they didn't really understand the toolbox analogy that I used in my draft to describe the different skills I need to make it in the professional world. I played around with it but ultimately decided to scrap that and instead use a book, a thank you note, and a photo of the Linked In logo to describe interview skills, professionalism, and networking. I ended up liking this better than my original toolbox idea because it felt more compelling, and I am thankful that one of my peers suggested that I rework this part of my story.
I also took the instructors note about abruptness of the draft ending of the story and I added an entire section on goals and a part about how my left and right brain synthesize to produce the writer that I am today and the writer that I hope to be by the end of the Minor in Writing.
Overall I felt that this project was challenging from both a technical and an introspective standpoint. I have little video editing experience, so I had to consult websites as well as some of my friends in the art school to figure out how to keep the camera steady, upload the photos to iMovie, and record and sync the voice with the photos so that the video was easy for the viewer to follow. Also, it was initially quite difficult to come up with a solid map that laid out the reasons that I write --- I've never considered the reasons why I write, it's just always been something that is inherent to my life and has expressed itself through different outlets over the course of my life.
My peers said that they didn't really understand the toolbox analogy that I used in my draft to describe the different skills I need to make it in the professional world. I played around with it but ultimately decided to scrap that and instead use a book, a thank you note, and a photo of the Linked In logo to describe interview skills, professionalism, and networking. I ended up liking this better than my original toolbox idea because it felt more compelling, and I am thankful that one of my peers suggested that I rework this part of my story.
I also took the instructors note about abruptness of the draft ending of the story and I added an entire section on goals and a part about how my left and right brain synthesize to produce the writer that I am today and the writer that I hope to be by the end of the Minor in Writing.
Overall I felt that this project was challenging from both a technical and an introspective standpoint. I have little video editing experience, so I had to consult websites as well as some of my friends in the art school to figure out how to keep the camera steady, upload the photos to iMovie, and record and sync the voice with the photos so that the video was easy for the viewer to follow. Also, it was initially quite difficult to come up with a solid map that laid out the reasons that I write --- I've never considered the reasons why I write, it's just always been something that is inherent to my life and has expressed itself through different outlets over the course of my life.
Why I Write Film: Instructor's Comments
Katie, I really applaud your decision to go for this medium and this form for your very first essay, esp. not having made a movie of this sort before! Was it fun? From your reflective comments below, I get the sense that you were happy with the outcome, but you don’t say a lot about that! J You’ve put together a clever, interesting, and stylish little animated film, I’d say! I agree that you’ve done a nice job creating a narrative arc and a sense of an ending with the synthesis section you added at the end – it really feels quite coherent and intentional in its look and message.
Below are some notes I jotted as I was watching the video. Some of these are possible areas for revision, if you were thinking about doing a further draft, and others note areas that seemed particularly strong:
· sometimes the writing can be a bit hard to read -- a bit small -- as in the first time the qualities of the left and right brains appear (around 0:19) or in the "dialogue" about the memo (around 1:50) In the revision, I repurposed these scenes so they would be easier to read.
· (1:04) great illustrations for health policy in Washington -- love the WHO images
· (2:02) is the circled Michigan Daily article one that you wrote? Not really clear until near the end when you’re reviewing examples of your writing I did not write the Michigan Daily article, so in the revision I placed an op-ed I wrote for a course onto the Michigan Daily paper.
· (2:19) the visual rhetoric doesn't fully support argument here -- you're trying to escape "the analytical box," but "where the magic happens" is in a box, while the "comfort zone" is a circle... Maybe reverse these shapes? Or some other shape for the "magic"? In the revision I used a different object for the "Where the Magic Happens" zone and used a white box for the "comfort zone"
· (2:48 ff.) nice to see the concrete image of your own writing in the journal -- were the narrative essays (3:07) for a class, or something you did on your own? This whole section is compelling
· (3:50) the boat metaphor comes a bit out of nowhere (earlier it was a flight of stairs to the Capitol) -- but it's clever and interesting nonetheless, and the synthesis of these various motivations for writing is quite effective I liked the boat metaphor over other options I considered, and therefor kept this in my revision.
Really nice work here!
Below are some notes I jotted as I was watching the video. Some of these are possible areas for revision, if you were thinking about doing a further draft, and others note areas that seemed particularly strong:
· sometimes the writing can be a bit hard to read -- a bit small -- as in the first time the qualities of the left and right brains appear (around 0:19) or in the "dialogue" about the memo (around 1:50) In the revision, I repurposed these scenes so they would be easier to read.
· (1:04) great illustrations for health policy in Washington -- love the WHO images
· (2:02) is the circled Michigan Daily article one that you wrote? Not really clear until near the end when you’re reviewing examples of your writing I did not write the Michigan Daily article, so in the revision I placed an op-ed I wrote for a course onto the Michigan Daily paper.
· (2:19) the visual rhetoric doesn't fully support argument here -- you're trying to escape "the analytical box," but "where the magic happens" is in a box, while the "comfort zone" is a circle... Maybe reverse these shapes? Or some other shape for the "magic"? In the revision I used a different object for the "Where the Magic Happens" zone and used a white box for the "comfort zone"
· (2:48 ff.) nice to see the concrete image of your own writing in the journal -- were the narrative essays (3:07) for a class, or something you did on your own? This whole section is compelling
· (3:50) the boat metaphor comes a bit out of nowhere (earlier it was a flight of stairs to the Capitol) -- but it's clever and interesting nonetheless, and the synthesis of these various motivations for writing is quite effective I liked the boat metaphor over other options I considered, and therefor kept this in my revision.
Really nice work here!
Why I Write Revision
Why I Write Revision: Self-Reflective Comments
I am still really happy with my decision to make a video for my "Why I Write" project. I used the iMovie skills I picked up from this project when I made a video thanking our donors for MUSIC Matters, a non-profit I am involved with on campus. It was one of those rewarding opportunities to use skills picked up in classes on a project for the "real world."
Because this was a video, however, the revision process was a bit challenging. I couldn't quite line up the camera to the exact angle and focus that I used when I first completed the project (for the original I did all of the shots in one sitting). This posed some difficulty, but I ended up just doing my best to make it work by using the same table as the setting, saving all of the original props I had used (thanking my former self for thinking ahead here!), and keeping the audio as is.
A few portions that I adapted that I'd like to expand on include the difficulty reading the words in both the beginning section where I discuss the left and right brain as well as the dialogue with my "boss" about the memo. By taking the photos from an angle almost directly over the props, rather than from the side, and zooming in a bit when working in iMovie I've made this portion a lot easier to read.
Additionally, the comfort zone article didn't originally make the most sense, because I discuss escaping an "analytical box" but I depicted my comfort zone as a circle. In this revision I have used a white box, plain, standard, boring, as my comfort zone and have elected a cloud with a superimposed star to represent where life takes me when I leave what's comfortable. I chose the cloud to represent that kind of "head in the clouds" dreamy feeling that maybe isn't always practical but can be where life's most exciting moments take place. The star represents the magic of transformation and growth, which is most likely achieved by taking risks. I decided to change the images rather than the dialogue because I knew that there was more to be done visually in this scene and I am glad it came together like this.
I also have put a memo I wrote in class on top of The Michigan Daily when I talk about wanting to be published. I haven't been published in a paper yet so I felt that this was the best way to illustrate this desire with the materials I have.
My biggest concern was keeping the dialogue aligned with the images. I had to pay close attention to detail and remember how long I originally allotted for the scenes I was editing in order to ensure the movie would make sense. This was the best way I could think to revise this project without having to scrap the whole thing and do a lot of re-editing when I needed to focus more on the re-mediating project as well as the e-portfolio.
I am really happy with the way this revision has turned out. Again, I am proud I pushed myself and developed new skills; I feel as if I escaped my "analytical box" and headed toward "where the magic happens!"
Because this was a video, however, the revision process was a bit challenging. I couldn't quite line up the camera to the exact angle and focus that I used when I first completed the project (for the original I did all of the shots in one sitting). This posed some difficulty, but I ended up just doing my best to make it work by using the same table as the setting, saving all of the original props I had used (thanking my former self for thinking ahead here!), and keeping the audio as is.
A few portions that I adapted that I'd like to expand on include the difficulty reading the words in both the beginning section where I discuss the left and right brain as well as the dialogue with my "boss" about the memo. By taking the photos from an angle almost directly over the props, rather than from the side, and zooming in a bit when working in iMovie I've made this portion a lot easier to read.
Additionally, the comfort zone article didn't originally make the most sense, because I discuss escaping an "analytical box" but I depicted my comfort zone as a circle. In this revision I have used a white box, plain, standard, boring, as my comfort zone and have elected a cloud with a superimposed star to represent where life takes me when I leave what's comfortable. I chose the cloud to represent that kind of "head in the clouds" dreamy feeling that maybe isn't always practical but can be where life's most exciting moments take place. The star represents the magic of transformation and growth, which is most likely achieved by taking risks. I decided to change the images rather than the dialogue because I knew that there was more to be done visually in this scene and I am glad it came together like this.
I also have put a memo I wrote in class on top of The Michigan Daily when I talk about wanting to be published. I haven't been published in a paper yet so I felt that this was the best way to illustrate this desire with the materials I have.
My biggest concern was keeping the dialogue aligned with the images. I had to pay close attention to detail and remember how long I originally allotted for the scenes I was editing in order to ensure the movie would make sense. This was the best way I could think to revise this project without having to scrap the whole thing and do a lot of re-editing when I needed to focus more on the re-mediating project as well as the e-portfolio.
I am really happy with the way this revision has turned out. Again, I am proud I pushed myself and developed new skills; I feel as if I escaped my "analytical box" and headed toward "where the magic happens!"
All images from my personal collection.