Week 13: 6 April 2011

WRA 110.742

Today's Agenda

• ICYDK• Readings• When media collide• Introducing Project #5• Sample book trailers• More readings• Planning, Scripting, Storyboarding• Wrap-up: Choosing texts, groups, etc.

In Case You Didn't Know

I'm out of town attending a conference in Atlanta right now. So that's why we're having a virtual class.

Let's start with some readings...

• Before you go any further, please read the following:o Carr, "The Fall and Rise of Media" (BTW 2010)o The Onion, "Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book"

(BTW 2009)

When media collide

• We've all seen films that are based on books (recent feature films include Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Time Traveler's Wife, Eat, Pray, Love, The Road, Green Zone, etc.) 

• What kinds of texts are easy to transform into video form?

• What makes them easy to transform?

When media collide

• What if we take that further? • What kinds of texts are difficult to transform into

videos?• Why are they difficult? Why do they resist the

transformation?• Why do *we* resist the transformation?• What kinds of questions do we need to ask ourselves

about the whole process?

Project #5: The Book Trailer Video

• Project #5 asks us to do those things. • We will wrestle with the kind of print text that

generally resists a video transformation.• We will wrestle with the questions that arise from

transforming media.

Let's look at some sample book trailers...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1JdPvyy93I

Packing for Mars:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie52BGvaDd0

Going West:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_jyXJTlrH0

I Am In The Air Right Now:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndOMMUrf-pk

Let's read a bit more:

• Baker,"In a World...Where Books Are Hyped Like Movies"

• Jaszi,"Watch Before Reading"

How to Start With Video• To create a coherent Project #5, you need to do a

significant amount of planning and preparation before you begin shooting footage or entering into the video editing environment. 

• Once you've chosen your text (and your group, if you go that path) planning and scripting/storyboarding are a good place to start. Take a look at Indie-film-making.com's discussion of planning, scripting, storyboarding.

• Here's a sample of a storyboard in someone's book trailer creation process.

Wrap-Up

I am starting a document in Google Docs where we will add everyone's groups (if any) and choice of texts for the projects. Please add yours as soon as they are chosen. I will respond with my approval, any comments, etc.

On Monday I will post a survey of tech access and literacy for all of us to take. Please watch for it.

By next Wednesday: Please have your text and group members, if any, confirmed.

Have a great week!