1.
What is the
essential story behind the piece you created?
The piece I created essentially tells the
story of where I find inspiration.
I looked back at my childhood and at two significant moments from my
past. The first comes from where I
get my creative nature. My family
raised me to be creative and encouraged the use of imagination and storytelling
in any work I would do. My
Grandfather was a writer and published a book and several articles, so I
aspired to follow in his footsteps.
He, along with my mother, taught me to love and appreciate words and the
power they can hold. I found that
you could string letters together to form words, and words together to form
phrases, and phrases together to form sentences and the message can be positive
or negative. The writer had
control over their audience.
The second moment comes from being bullied
as a kid. I lost confidence in
myself and in the ability to trust others. I started to hate school and hate that I might be gay. I
thought that by admitting that my bullies were right, I was letting them win,
while not realizing hiding who I truly was they were already winning. My
bullies caused me to hate words, which went against what I grew up
knowing. Words, which I once
loved, were now used against me as a weapon. It didn't matter if what was said was true or not, those
within earshot laughed and believed what was said. I eventually had enough of the taunting, teasing, and
"kids being kids" mentality and found solace in creative works.
This eventually led me to writing and
filmmaking. I found that I could
not only convey my thoughts on paper, but I could use video and film production
to make the words on the page come to life. Because of this, I often pull from
my own experiences in the works I create.
2.
What was your
purpose in creating this piece of new media narrative? Do you feel you were successful in
communicating your purpose?
I wanted to try something new with this
piece. I don't have many pictures
from my past, nor did I want to do the conventional photo slide show with
music, not that there is anything wrong with that, I just wanted to create
something that was timely and unconventional for this type of story.
I feel as though I was half successful with
this piece. Because I had never
done a claymation, or any type of stop motion piece, I was unprepared for what
it would take to get enough footage. There are holes in the story and moments that fly by
too quickly that I would like to fill in with additional footage. For instance when the bullied kid is
walking across the page, I should have focused in on the words more to showcase
what he was feeling and the trail he was leaving behind. This moment moves too quickly and is
hard to read.
Overall though, I am pleased with the
outcome of this video because I accomplished something new, and if a
conversation could take place about bullying, even if they don't like my piece,
I have done my job as an artist. I
can only captivate my audience for however long I have asked for their
attention. In this case it is 1
minute and 22 seconds. Whether
they like it or not, is out of my control.
3.
Who was your
audience? Do you feel you were successful in reaching your audience?
The original intent for this piece was directed
at anyone who has been bullied, being bullied, or feeling different. I wanted to show that it does get
better and that we, as human beings, are unfinished. Our stories do not end until
we end, so we have the capability of writing and rewriting aspects of our own
narrative. I cannot change what
happened to me as a kid, but I can use it to help others and pull from in my
own creative works. I use the
voice I have now, because I did not or could not use it back then.
I do think I was successful in the research
of my audience. As I mentioned above, I can only expect their attention for
however long I have asked for it, but at the very least I would hope any piece could
spark a conversation. In this case
I want to show that life does get better and instead of hiding from the past,
we should embrace and it and pull from it to come out better in the end.
Did the final piece come out exactly as I
wanted it? No, but I think at it's core the message still comes across.
4.
Why did you use
your particular approach to media production and media selection? Were you
successful?
This is an interesting question. I have utilized various forms of media
in filmmaking over the years, but stopmotion is something I have always been
drawn to and intrigued by. I also
hate being on camera, so I wanted to create a character that the audience could
relate to and give it my voice.
This particular medium has been used in several viral Internet videos
recently and I wanted to use the popularity of it to pull in my audience.
I think with a little more planning and
testing I could have been more successful. Looking at it now, I would take out the narration and let
the action and music drive the piece.
This would require more time to shoot and more material to create, which
is not impossible but it does take time.
For this particular piece, time was something I just ran out of, so I
added the narration to help move the story along.
5. What
did you learn during the process of crafting your media piece that you can use
in creating future new media narrative?
I learned that I will need lots of thoughtful
planning and to scale back the creative ambition. I got caught in a creative haze with this piece and tried to
take on more than I could chew, which led the final piece to be less strong
than originally intended. This was
fun and I enjoyed creating every aspect of it, but building the character's,
sets, cutting out the paper figures, finding the right materials for the
motion, and learning the overall process took more time than I allowed myself.
For future projects if I did something this
complex again, I would plan out each section meticulously so that I can capture
all the frames I need and tell the story I want. I would also, with such a quick turn around, not take on
something I have never tried to ensure I put forth the best possible work I
can.
I like to try new things, but perhaps this
medium would have been better left to another project.
