Digital Narrative: “Surfing on Jericho”

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ODGPcqGDCYCJsh76Xmat_itHWIIiSlXO

 

That ^^ is my first ever digital narrative!  And I’m probably a little too proud considering the production quality–but I don’t care–I’m psyched anyway!

When I first saw the option of creating the digital story, I thought, “I should finally just do that.”  But I didn’t really think I would because for me, writing is just more convenient and comfortable.

Then I got quarantined.  The Department of Health called to tell me I had been exposed to the coronoavirus, I’m not kidding and I’m also fine, but I need things to keep me challenged and busy while I’m “inside.”  I’ve got a few more days.

Anyway…

In “Welcome to Pine Point” one of the ideas expressed is that absence “preserves” and that recollection is the “most accurate” version that exists of something that was but is not longer.  I wonder how much my memory of my day with my cousin is “actual.”  Honestly, I’m convinced it all is–I truly believe I’ve got it all right.  My memories are vivid.  But have they been made more vivid simply by my remembering or recollecting them again and again?  And would my memories be so active and vivid if my cousin was more a part of my everyday life now?  This memory might be less precious if I still saw him everyday.  I hope not, but we do tend to take for granted those things that are constants.  On a more material level, one of the elements of “Pine Point” that I found most affecting was the music.  It held nostalgia and melancholy and fondness, elevating the effect of the images shown.  For my video, I selected from the list available!  Not necessarily my first choice, and for a second movie I’ll try to expand my audio capabilities, but I wanted to convey a sense of youthful fun and camaraderie–I wanted it to sound joyful and I wanted my reader to experience that place of joy.

As for reader positioning–there really is no sense of the reader being an “intriguee”  (Punday) nor or there elements of interactivity in my story.  That’s largely for practical reasons:  I just don’t know how to navigate those options yet.  With “Pine Point,” the interactivity allowed the reader to control the pace of the story and the positioning of some of its graphics.  My story operates on the simplest level:  there is a narrator, who is also the author, and readers who will hopefully enjoy the experience of being told a story and be prompted reflect on their own memories.

The experience of creating the story did prompt me to reflect more on some of the ideas presented in “Stories That Speak to Us” (Sharma)–about how the voice, appearance, cultural experience of the author/narrator are essential “parts” of the story he or she tells.  Listening to my own voice wasn’t a particularly comfortable experience for me as I sound different from inside my head; I hardly recognized myself and I was preoccupied by that.  But I wonder what the “readers” of my story will glean from my voice and from the pictures selected, though the pictures were not so much selected as used; they are what I have so it wasn’t as though I could choose the best of a bunch.  I am happy with the family photos, though– I think the close friendship my cousin and I share is evident in our faces throughout the decades represented.  It is interesting what the photos show about the actual photo-takers–it seems they enjoyed and  wanted to capture moments that conveyed the friendship Darrin and I shared– and technology.  I had to resort to stock images for some key points in the narrative; had they occurred in the 2010s instead of 1988, I’d have definitely had actual footage as would any self-respecting teen with a Smartphone.  “Pics or it didn’t happen” didn’t apply in 1988; recollections had to be trusted.  Just as cultural perceptions affected the different scholars’ views of literacy in “Stories that Speak to Us,” my family experience affects my telling and recollection of this story, I’m sure.  Darrin and I and the rest of our siblings and cousins had golden childhoods–not in the financial sense, but in the sense that we were a family that loved each other fully.  There were no feuds-no fights.  But around the time of this memory, the luster of that gold started to dull as illness wreaked havoc, and ultimately stole, several of our family members who were far too young to die (just FYI, Darrin was not one of those tragedies).  We had to hold on tight to each other, and I hold on tight to those golden memories.

Reflection Confession

My original movie was slightly different than the one posted.  I considered complete and then realized an enormous error. I had used images from my “google images” search without checking if the images were for reuse; pretty dumb considering what we’re studying and that the handout included in this week’s docs actually outlined how to ensure fair use.  So–I did a redo, using images from Creative Commons or other share-friendly sites and added a photo credits page.  I’m very used to fair-use rules for text; it was easy to forget that the rules apply to images, etc. as well.

One thought on “Digital Narrative: “Surfing on Jericho”

  1. I loved this! The pictures were lovely, loved the tinge of the color–the sepia effect, which I think probably came from the photos themselves. And the story is wonderful. But I really liked your voice narration. Loved the way that you gave depth to the physicality of the water, the mud, the weird stuff you made with your voice. What did you use to make the movie?

    I could help you get rid of the audio clicks in Audacity if you shared the video with me, maybe uploading it to Google Drive, and then sharing it with me. Then I could show you how to do that if you like.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*