Writing 39B
Fairy tales
Intro to Me Presentation
This was the first presentation that I had to give for this class. The purpose was to let the class know a little more about myself as well as practice for future presentations to come.
Click here to view my Intro to Me Presentation!
Brothers Grimm
This was the first group presentation in our class. We learned how to collaborate with others and make sure that people did the parts that they were assigned to do. I was assigned leader for this group, so I had to keep the communication going. For the slides, I was responsible for introducing who the Brothers Grimm were and their impact and significance.
Click here to view the Brothers Grimm Presentation!
Strong Boy
For this presentation, our group was responsible for comparing different tales from different cultures that all fall under the category of "Strong Boy." With three people in our group, we each chose one story to present to our class. We had to show how the three stories each differently showed the same convention by explaining the rhetorical situation for the tales. I was personally responsible for The Hairy Boy, and how it being of Swiss origin may have affected the way the convention was presented.
Click here to view the Strong Boy Presentation!
RIP Video Project
Frog King
Compared to the presentations we had done up to this point, the RIP Video Project was an assignment in which we needed to create a video that told the story of a tale we had not read and a class. We needed to include analysis that compared the rhetorical situation of the tale to the modern day. A goal of this project was to allow us to improve our digital literacy and communication skills across several media, including videos, video scripts, and storyboards. Another goal was to present our analysis of the rhetorical situation of the tale we chose and show that we understand the concept of rhetoric and how a text grows out of and reflects its rhetorical situation. My group and I worked together for many hours to create the RIP video project. We all had separate roles in the making of the video and each of us also voiced a character in the tale. For example, I was in charge of putting the video together and was the narrator for the video.
The Process
We originally started with just slides and a storyboard while we were planning out how we would make our video. As we worked on the video, we received feedback from our classmates and professor. For example, we needed to make our fairy tale conventions clear and keep the characters we used to portray the characters in the tale consistent. Lastly, we needed to add background music, GIFs, and transition effects to make our video seem less like a slideshow presentation.
This is a snippet of our storyboard. The storyboard was what our group used when we did our recordings. Each group member was assigned a role and the different colors show the different roles.
Using our storyboard, we thought about what pictures could fit well and help us tell the story. This image in particular was used illustrate a unified German cultural identity.
Using our storyboard, we thought about what pictures could fit well and help us tell the story. This image in particular was used illustrate a unified German cultural identity.
After we were certain what images we were going to use and what we were gonna say in the recordings, we created our first draft.
This was our classmates' feedback for how well we showed understanding of the fairy tale genre conventions.
We received many 1s and 2s and it seemed that the audience could not identify when we were talking about fairy tale conventions.
We did have fairy tale conventions in our video, but if one did not listen closely, it would be hard to catch it. Often times, we had one picture last for eight seconds. As a result, it would be easy to lose one's attention. We decided to add many more pictures so that the images would change every few seconds. In addition, we made words pop-up and changed the background to show that we would be doing rhetorical analysis and talking about fairy tale conventions.
In our first draft, we used a variety of different people/cartoons to present our story. However, after hearing feedback from our classmates and professor, it was sometimes quite confusing. For example, it was strange to see humans portraying the characters in the tale and then suddenly seeing a cartoon character represent a character.
We decided to take out Squidward, the cartoon character and replace him with Jay-Z. It made our video make much more sense because Beyonce and Jay-Z are married in real life. Beyonce is the princess and Jay-Z is the frog king after he transforms back into a human. Therefore, seeing Jay-Z, instead of Squidward, with Beyonce in the end made our video consistent and not confusing.
This was our classmates' feedback for how well we showed our digital literacy in different media. We only had images and our voice in the video. As a result, it seemed more like a presentation with slides rather than a video.
We decided to add GIFs, background music, and transition effects from image to image. By doing these things, our video looked less like a presentation and more like a video.
CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR FINAL PRODUCT!
OR SIMPLY WATCH BELOW!
RIP Companion Essay
To get a better idea of the process behind the making of the video, click here to see the RIP Companion Essay or simply read it below.
Here are two pictures of my RIP group members and I on the last day of class!
First Picture: (Left: Me, Middle: Jeff, Right: Antoinette), Second Picture: (Left: Me, Middle: Antoinette, Right: Jeff)
Thoughts about Presentations
Though finding the information for the rhetorical situations of the tales was difficult, this process allowed me to become better at researching and finding information that is useful. Being able to find information that supports my points about the rhetorical situation of a tale really helped me to write my Rhetorical Analysis Essay. I have become better at putting myself in the writers' perspectives and understanding how the time period, economic situation, and place they were living in affected the way the fairy tale conventions were portrayed.
I gained a few valuable skills through working with others. I was assigned the leader of the group for one presentation and I had to make sure that everyone did what they needed to do. I could not just wait and do nothing until the last minute because nothing would be done. As the leader, I knew that I had to lead by example by getting my part done. In addition, I would have to keep in contact with the other group members to keep them accountable for their part. I learned that communication is key to group assignments. It is important to let group members know if something came up and that you could no longer finish your part at the time you originally wanted to. I came to the conclusion that with clear communication, misunderstandings will usually not arise and the group will be more efficient. With the next groups that I have been in, I have applied what I have learned from that experience. The groups that I have been in have been productive and we split up the work evenly. We set deadlines and keep each other accountable to finish on the agreed upon due date. However, that is not to say that I do not have more to improve on. I will continue to do my best to be an active participant in group projects and keep the discussion flowing if necessary.