June 2010 Archives

Healing by Annameika

The story is told from a first person narrative using a voice over which focuses on Annameika's life before and after being diagnosed with Lymphoma (cancer) on March of 2005 at the age of 19. The video is well done; the pace of the images fits very well with the voice over where everything is done in slow pace and there is no competition between the music and the voice over. Annameika uses images and video clips to show her experience, struggle and pain while music and instrumentals are played to match the emotion and the mood. Annameika is very effective in using an image that matches what she is narrating such as an artwork, newspaper clip, special effect, color and black and white photos that shows her gaining a new identity and struggle after being diagnosed with cancer and the affect of cancer on her body such as the loss of hair and changes in her body. Although she is experiencing something horrible and traumatic that's taking a toll on her physically and emotionally, the sad part of her story is she doesn't have insurance to pay for her treatment and she becomes an advocate for an alternative treatment and remains positive and upbeat. Annamieka made this video to tell her story and the struggle of being diagnosed with cancer and how it can be a burden on a family financially and emotionally but through it all she strives to find a cure to enjoy the things she lives doing. The story ends with her quoting in a text saying "My life's work is to practice medicine that truly heals. Cancer was a power teacher, and I am grateful for the guidance it gave me on my journey..." which shows how cancer had taught her to take care of her body in a way she had never imagined before. Her story is very touching and provides a hope to people with cancer and cancer survivors. Cancer can alter people's life in so many ways no matter how healthy a person is and her message is to live life to the fullest and do things that make you happy.

Dear Jody
Dear Jody is video about a personal letter written by Sasha for her younger brother Jody whom she was separated apart by foster care. In this story Sasha recites the letter to her brother. Her voice over is the strongest part of the video since she had to get her message across very well and she is uses personal video clips of her to explain her pain and emotion to her brother. Sasha felt like she was more than a sister to Jody and she is very hurt by being separated from her brother by the foster care. Losing Jody lead to her struggle in school and social life and but using her brothers' success as an example with the help of her case worker she overcame her struggles and finished high school. The pace of the video is slow to match her narration and she uses black screen very well as a transition between photos. She uses images, instrumental music in the background as she recites the letter. Sasha did a wonderful job constructing this video and also getting across her message to her brother. The selections of the images were wonderful and it matches the story very well. Sasha strives to remain positive, connected to the people important to her and wants Jody and her to have a successful life. This story seems like it was a hard for Sasha to share since it was very personal to her, and also tow people Jody and her case worker have had a big impact on her life and character.
URL: http://www.storycenter.org/stories/

This video is about the Japanese-American who immigrated to the United States of America. The quality of the video was done pretty well starting off with the images incorporated in the video. The images were transitioned at a steady speed that helped the audience to see. The images seemed old but were clearly seen without any blur. In the video they showed images of posters, flyers, newspaper, and so forth which contributed a lot to helping the audience connect to what the narrator was speaking. The narrator of the video did a fine job keeping pace with the images which helped the audience understand. The narrator's voice was clear and pace which flowed well with the video. The sound affects incorporated in the video went well with the movie as well. When the narrator spoke about the Japanese hitting Pearl Harbor there were bombing sounds, basically war sound affects. The sound affects played well giving the audience a switch of reality. A trumpet was played on a images of war, basically a symbol for the USA. Most of the music played were very much Japanese style, however because the Japanese-American lived in the USA, Americans saw them as a threat. So they basically created flyers and music that talked or showed about the Japanese in a negative way. So the music that were created by the Americans were played into the video which helped the audience hear the segregation during the time. However this video's quality was done pretty well. The affects, images, and so forth were very helpful to follow which I believe others would agree as well.

Link to the video
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/digital_stories.cfm

In the Video, Jane's story, she talks about her life, her son, and her diagnostic of HIV. In the video she begins her video with music and begins to narrate her own story, at least we the audience believe so. She does a good job narrating and keeping pace with the images in the video which helps the audience connect what she is saying with the images. She keeps a steady tone throughout the video, however if she was to have put some power or other emotions into her voice it would have made the video have more energy. However, the transitioning of the images were done pretty well, it gave the audience enough time to think. The pictures were a mix of black/white and color without any blur. The different pictures helped the audience with a sense of the different times that events or things occurred. She used images such as a photo that was all black with a person wearing a mask with only their eyes showing. The image symbolized herself in the dark and alone. The music played helped set the mood for the video and story being told. Music was played throughout the whole video which helped lead the audience. However, the video could have had sound affects. The sound affects installed into the video could have given the video a deeper feel of an actual movie being played and deeper feelings and perhaps meaning. Jane did a great job narrating her story and transitioning from one point of her life to the next. Adding sound affects and other various things would have improved her video but besides everything else it was great.

Link to video
http://www.positivewomen.org.nz/digital_jane.html

By Dave Norgart

The digital story "becoming a father" is about a man name Dave Norgart who spent most of his life as a drug addict, neglecting his children for his love of drugs. Trying to convince his children to live by drugs and being disrespectful to women and basically living the wrong way, they fled away from him. Eventually Dave began to try to change for the better entering rehabilitation centers and 24/7 program on fathering. I believe that it was hard for him to do so, for someone else to teach you how to be a good father especially if you think your doing alright in the first place. The dramatic question was "will this man change, or continue on his same path. The music that began to play at the beginning as he discussed how shitty of a father he was went well with the topic. It was slow and smooth, just like the pace of the story. It was consistent all the way through. It was very easy to follow. It didn't get boring and it was interesting all the way through. Sort of didn't want it to end, I wanted to hear more about the process of how he changed. The emotional content of this story came in from the beginning with the father talking about how a good father should teach their kids how to treat women well, how to play sports, and be a well conducted child. Instead he tried teaching them wrong morals and how to live a bad lifestyle. The story was good and it shows that people can make significant changes in their lives for the better if they really want to, and have the motivation to do so.

This Digital Story was about a man who didn't really know how to comfort or help answer a child who has gone through a very hard situation. The child had witness his father shooting his mother and killing his baby sister. He had no one in his family left but himself. The child would draw pictures of what happen and ask questions. But the storyteller didn't have any answers. In the end the storyteller notice that that child would soon find the answer on his own and all you have to do is be there for that person. This video was well done. This topic isn't very common or have many people that know how to deal with this type of situation. The image used in this video varied from pictures describing what happened and letting the audience understand the seriousness in it and about life. There was picture of actual drawing and slides with questions to get the audience thinking about life and death or how they would cope if this had happen to them too. The music was very sad and mellow and that it was about helping and giving support to someone who didn't truly understand what was going on. The message in the story was that even if you can't do anything, just being there for someone else shows a lot of support and help them greatly. Overall I thought that this was a great digital story because you can read and understand the emotion the storyteller is trying to explain or portray.

Paul Thomas Clements -- Just Being There from Daniel Weinshenker on Vimeo.

This digital story was about a woman who grew up in a very different lifestyle from normal society. Her father had murder her mother when she was young. She grew up hearing people called her, "That Kid" and feeling different from others. She felt as if she didn't have an identity or a sense of belonging. She talks about living in fear, shame and uncertainty because she couldn't really explain why her and her sister was living with their grandparent to other people. It was a very sad and hard story to talk about and she also state that no one wanted to talk about the incident and just wanted to forget. She had no one to talk to about her feeling or anyone to console her. But somehow she got through it all. When she grew up as a grown adult, one day she was called to a suicide case. At the scene, a mother had committed suicide and there were many people around. When the storyteller arrived at the scene, she notices a boy sitting down by himself. People were calling him, "There's that kid." The young boy was the son of that woman. That's when she remember the feeling she went through when she was young also. In the end of the story, she sat down next to him and asks him his name. She told him he would be okay because she went through the same thing as him and then he started crying. I thought that this video was very emotional and sad. It is also a hard topic to talk about, but the message in the story was very understandable. The image used in this video had some strong emotions and was mainly black and white or old photos which helped and gives the audience an idea about how the storyteller felt. The music in the background was all instrumental and also gave off a sad vibe to help the emotion that was being portrayed. Overall, I thought that this digital story was decent and good.

Bobbi Jo O'Neal -- That Kid from Daniel Weinshenker on Vimeo.

As we didn't have a lot of time to discuss or explore the websites I showed at the end of our class today I wanted to put them up on our course blog for quick and easy access.

If you want to see more - Check out:

Sociological Images To see the "LOL" sign (and click on the banner to browse through other images and analyses)

and

Water Wellness (For a great example on the project of framing an image or representation in a particular way) 

"Teenage Ego Warriors" is a digital story written by Annie Godefroy and Mel Bulut. The story talks about the mind and ego of a teenager. It shows how we think of things that we know aren't good for us and things that will change who we are as a person. In the story the two girls say, "I could drink, smoke, pop some pills and my parents would never know." If you know how teenagers in this day and time are more exposed to things than back in our parent's generation, then you would understand that the girls in the video are telling the truth. I'm sure these thoughts have crossed the minds of more than 90% of all teenagers. The story also speaks about how people think they should change their image to try to impress others. The skit on the video shows how this girl wants to change her overall personality just to impress a guy or she thinks is the best looking person she knows. Doing that not only makes you try to be someone that you aren't, but you also come off as someone who is too worried about trying to fit in instead of being accepted for the person they are at heart. I think that the video is very informative on situations that take place daily. You should never change who you are as a person just so you can fit in. If you truly think that the people you are trying to be like are your friends then you need to really think, "Who am I?"

"The confrontation" is the story of a woman named Amy. It starts off on the 15th of June 1987; Amy was just 15 years old. Her parents have been making her mad so she decides to run away to a friend's house. When she arrives there her friend is nowhere to be found but his 20 something year old brother is home so he lets her in. He says she can do whatever she needs to so that she can get a hold of someone, but before she can do anything he rapes her. Amy didn't know if she should tell anyone or doing anything about it so she just lets it be. After that as she starts to grow up, she does things that she wouldn't have done such as: drugs, allowing herself to be beaten, and putting herself down. She goes on in life and decides that she wants to clean herself up so she begins to workout and other things. About 1997 Amy feels as if she can do things so she decides to go camping with some friends. While there she sees four guys rock climbing on a wall that is near her. One guy stumbles and she decides to go check to see if he is ok. When she gets over by him she catches the eye of the man and realizes that it was her friend's brother. She doesn't know what to do about the situation. She is fearful but feels she must say something. Click to find out the rest.

http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=2

The Value of a Pet Rock:

Breaking Free

http://www.storycenter.org/stories/

This personal narrative is about a young brother who started out rough, had the odds against him then got it together. I was really digging how he got to the point. He was abused, put in foster care with his siblings, struggled with finding his identity then found it and now is giving back to the community. The background music made you want to get all sensitive, and he had the childhood photos (nice touch) and the later on shot of him looking into the sky, walking alone and being deep (almost too much)- never the less, it was a good look. He was direct and clear...my favorite. He made you care about his story right off the bat with an interesting title " Breaking Free", so you as the reader want to know immediately what he broke free from- props.
Overall this Digital Story was waaaaaaaaaaaay better in many aspects then the first one I viewed, all because he followed the basic seven steps of storytelling. Cool beans on this one.

1. I have a dog (named Sandie) and a cat (named JoJo).

2. I am the oldest of four children in my family. 

3. I love to read. 

4. My favorite television show of all times is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by X-Files. 

5. I want to travel to and visit all 50 states so far I've made it to Kansas (where I was born), New Mexico (where I grew up), Minnesota (where I live now), and California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, Georgia, Florida, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Missouri... pretty good start I think!

6. When I was young I really wanted to be a marine biologist. 

7. My favorite colors are hot pink and brown. 

8. I like to swim. 

9. I love to cook and having a cooking blog called, La Kitchen Chicana but I haven't been able to write on my blog because I've been so busy working on my dissertation. 

10. I am closer to earning my PhD than ever before! 

Blog post 1
Sacrificios (Sacrafices)
By: Ernesto Ayala

Why do people make sacrifices? Is all the hard work worth it? Ernesto answers this question through the story of his grandparents. As the story begun, there is music as a background. This soundtrack starts with a fast tempo, which represents how the lives of both Fernando and Emilia Sanchez' (Ernesto's grandparents) changed as they emerged to a different culture. Also, the music conveys a sense of mystery, and curiosity. The music is instrumental, so it helps to create emotions through out the story. If the audience listens to music and emotions are created then the story is truly honest.  As Ernesto talks about the type of work his grandfather used to do, the image of Fernando is zoomed in, to show importance, and respect. When the image was zoomed in the description of Fernando was full of details. As this part of the story is being told, the music adds the struggle, and complexity that the Sanchez had to go through. The soundtrack slows down to evoke the loneliness, and emptiness. Also the movement of the pictures went along with time, the changes taken place in their lives. There is a moment of montage, where the storyteller shows a quick gland of photos as how the Sanchez family grew in the field. Also after the death of Fernando's patron the pictures were full of a brighter future.

At the end of the story Ernesto answer the why question and the theme as well. The answer was that his grandparents wanted their next generation to have the opportunity to succeed. To focus his main point of this story Ernesto changes the tone of his voice. His voice lights up and is if full of gratitude, and appreciation that the words of "muchas gracias por su gran sacrificio" is the conclusion of his story.

Blog Post 2

Strength in Love 


By: Eric


This is another great story that touches the bottom of your heart. Eric starts with a current state of his life. Then he goes into a flashback, a dark flashback. The flashback is overlapped with layers of pictures. To show the layers the merry-goes-around is spinning. His life was only he, himself, and only he. As Eric continues to share his story, his voice had a deep meaning of sadness. The repetition of the pictures in black and white through the story evokes the attention of the audience. These colors represent how homeless, and lonely Eric felt. Also the pictures had transitions that fade away quickly, as if all the doors for Eric closed up.  He grew up alone, no friends by his side. But, then all the isolation and eagerness to be love lead him to be a member of a gang. When it came to show the true friendship, Eric's homeboys did not appear anywhere. The dark, and gloomy story came back. Many images ere used as metaphors to interpret another meaning. It seemed that Eric's life was a sequence, until he decided to stay in school. After this part of the story the pictures have color, and it creates a sense of resurrection, a way of stepping for a new beginning. This first part of the story, Eric's voice is strong and you can feel his harsh childhood. This was significant because it showed his identity. Eric found a family with the Barndt. The second part of the story, his voice gets more lighted. Along with his voice, the soundtrack goes along. The soundtrack holds Eric's happiness, excitement and the love. We cannot here Eric's voice for the next minute. The pictures and the music took over to inform the viewers of his experience, his true story.

Appreciate the people you have around can be on of the lesson of this story. There are many people who do not have a warm home, neither a person who would walk with them. But, there are people who have a noble heart and want the best for the people who do not have anything.

One Brave Summer

In 2008, many mothers and wives, such as Elian went through misery knowing that her husband, Jeff, was out at war. This blog gave viewers a great dramatic question, because you didn't know whether or not Jeff was going to come home. Even though she was an in experienced computer editor, she used pictures, music and even one video do describe the enjoyment she had when her husband came home. Her voice had a great tone that transitioned from a "bummed out" tone to the "happiest moment of her life" tone. The power of soundtrack was used very affectively, using "Out of It" by Bradsucks. The economy contained a lot of pictures, only because the pictures were being switched. The pictures were being switched because of the pace of the song. When the song would slow down, towards the end when Elian's husband came home, they the pictures were getting switched at a slower pace. When the song finally ended, she tried to make the blog look like there was a video attached to it by keeping a picture of the front of her house on the screen while playing the recording of the moment when Jeff knocked on the door and her daughter screamed, "Daddy's home!" Her point of view was not much different than the other wives that suffered her misery of her husband off to war. The overall story had a good pace and truly described the way she had felt throughout this process. I would have to say that she is a pretty good storyteller.

One Brave Summer

My Story
By: Kim Dennis

This digit story contained a deep compassion of a mother of two children, named Kim. Around 2007, Kim had experience a time in her life, which any other mother would experience, when she had to let her children go and grow. She grew up caring for her friends, daughters and husband whenever they needed help. She was always supporting children in foster homes and child services. She couldn't let her children and husband support her, it was always her supporting them. She couldn't let her children and loved ones go.
The pace of the story was perfect with a slow and moody melody containing great pictures fading away slowly while exiting. The story gave the dramatic question of, is she ever going to let her loved ones go? The story started with her introducing herself and how she grew up with her loving and hardworking grandmother. Then the suspense began when she started to say that she was always helping her friends and it became harder and harder to see her kids get older. By this time, I thought that maybe her children were getting tired of her and the relationship between her and her children were getting worse. This wasn't the case though. Instead, she began to learn that letting others go is how they must go. Her voice was perfect for this story because the melody of her voice and the music were almost the exact same. The economy was perfect, with a perfect amount of photos that gradually switched.
This is truly a great storyteller, because of the compassion and the way she used Lambert's seven elements.

My Story

The digital story "Strength of love" was told by a man name Eric. Eric was a kid who went through a tough life. Struggled plenty to get to where he is at now. He speaks very descriptively about his life, from being homeless, to joining gangs to find a source of comfort and to fit in. Dealing with drugs to living a loose conduct type of life just to get by. The tone in his voice is so mild and calm as he speaks about all the roughness in his life. It's as if you knew this kid had been through some stuff no kid should have to deal with. He had been staying on his own since he was a kid and didn't have his dads recognition until he was 10 years old. Moving in with him shortly after he was homeless again. Eventually eric joined a basketball team and became part of the family of the basketball coach. The music played in the background as erics life transitioned for the better was fitting. It was like you seen the weight lifted off of his shoulders in a matter of seconds. He told his story at a pace that was easy to follow, from details of his life as a child to how he progressed and lived, all the way until he was in a complete family that was consistent to his needs. It was also fitting with the music that began to play as the pictures of him and his new family were being shown. The emotional content of the story came in at that point also, as his life reached a climax and he came down into a life of joy and comfort

Title: Dear Grandma
By: Matt MacArthur

http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4

In this video created by Matt MacArthur, he reflects on his grandma's life and how hard it was for him to lose his grandma at such a young age. Eleven to be exact; He starts the first twenty-four seconds off with him talking in a melancholy tone without music as he mentions about how he was thinking about his grandmother's funeral and how he was sad to lose his best friend. Then, after that Matt MacArthur begins the rest of the video with a slow, calm and peaceful song while maintaining his same melancholy voice. Through the music used and his tone, there is a feeling of sadness that is conveyed, but at the same time Matt MacArthur leads into a more positive direction of an understanding of his grandma's life about how important she really was and how much she made a difference during the 1940's. He provides viewers with an understanding of history in the 1940's about segregation during those years. When he spoke of segregation at one point he showed a school in a light shade and then turned it into a dark shade to help visualize segregation. He also provided readers with the knowledge that one person truly can make a difference because his grandma did. Several people that she had taught became successful. One line that stood out to me the most was at the end. He says, "A little boy in me still doesn't want to share you with all those people, but as a historian, and a citizen. As your grandson, and a father of my own children. I wish to join with the others. Twenty-four years after the fact and say thank you." This to me was what made this video so powerful because after twenty-four years he was able express and say thanks to his grandma after reflection on everything she did.

While I watched this video, I found it to be very powerful to me because I felt as if there were parts of it that I could relate to. Matt MacAurthor talks about the memories of losing his grandma and how difficult it is. I can relate to this in a sense too because I lost my grandpa not too long ago and it's a very difficult things and many times those memories come along and you can't help but think about them. Losing a loved one, a best friend at such a young age is very difficult to accept, but someday it will come become easier and the death becomes more of memories. The sadness then turns into positive thoughts and memories that will forever live on.

Title: Dear Jody
By: Sasha Charles

http://www.storycenter.org/stories/

This story was a very powerful story that really touched my heart. As I watched this video, it brought me back to reality. Sasha Charles video brought me back to reality in that it reminded me that there are children and people out in the world that deal with struggles. Some siblings grow up watching their mothers get abused, or even having to act like a parent figure to younger siblings. Sasha and her brother struggled but because they had each other it was not as much of a struggle, but she did at times appear to be hard on her brother because she just wanted for him to succeed and do well. Also, what made this powerful was when Sasha spoke about being a part of separate foster homes and not being able to see her brother whenever she wanted. That shows the difficulty that some children in our world have to deal with. When she speaks of the separation from her brother, she allows viewer to become familiar with the different types of effects on children that become separated from siblings. Some children are able to still concentrate and do well in school, her brother. She was very happy for him. While other students struggle. They begin to do badly in their classes. Their grades begin to drop and they start to have problems with violence and fight (Sasha). But even though Sasha did begin to fail and fight often in school. Through her video, she showed that people can make a difference. She had a case worker that took the time to sit her down and make her focus on what she was doing and made her think. Which in the end helped her to turn her life around for the better, pass her classes and graduate on time to go on to college. I feel as if this video was a way to set a message that everyone faces struggles throughout their lives, but somewhere down the line there will be someone or something that will can help and it is never too late to turn your life around and fix it even it is difficult. Also, this video was of expressing herself in that no matter what happens she will always be there for her brother whenever he needs someone.
In this video, Sasha uses a slightly monotone voice as a way for viewers to realize how her brother and her struggled and how difficult it was at times. The music that Sasha uses is slow but yet it contains a simple beat to add emotion to the story. Also, throughout the video, Sasha uses pictures and video clips of sadness which provides a deeper vision of her emotions dealing with the separation and how much it really affected her. Along with that, there is a point in the story that drove away from the sadness. There was a hint of sarcasm in the video when she chuckled and said, "...as if I were going to eat you. Come on..."
As I watched this video, it touched my heart because I have never been in this kind of situation so I sometimes forget that children all over the world are dealing with these struggles. This video helped bring me back to reality and helped me to realize too that people are there to help you, it is never too late to turn your life around and that no matter what having someone there for you is an important aspect of life. We may not ever know it or not but someone in this world appreciates us and we can help make a difference in people's lives.

Blog - Blip T.V. - Dating Follies - http://blip.tv/file/1449422/

The blog video was short and straight to the point. I thought it was a neat way for her to express her feelings. I have heard of blogs, but only of blogs that were typed and not so much the ones that were recorded on video. Seeing it on video made me really start to think how far technology has come these last few years. Only but a few years ago people were
still only writing in newspapers, and magazines to express there thoughts.
Now-a-days people are doing that and also expressing their feelings online line
in video entries.

The lady in the entry speaks about her recent break up with her ex and the problems she has trying to find another boyfriend. She talks about her experiences at a concert, a double date and a few other scenarios that just didn't work out. In the end she finally resorts to online dating. She finds it more rewarding and after a bit some one replies to a post of hers.

Blog Post 1

Title: I Think of You http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4

This video was made by a woman named Ann Guido. As the film begins, she starts sharing her story of her oldest son named Eric. The visualization of this video begins with the black and  white picture of Eric in the army and she describes how she misses her child. The color of picture helps to show that the picture was taken from the past. She describes her memories with her son and says that she respects his choice and she feels very proud of him. She uses a jazz/ blue type of music which helps the audience to absorb her moodiness. The pace of the pictures and narration move slowly throughout the video and the Eric's picture changes from his grown picture to his childhood pictures; this transition makes the audience to visualize the relationship between Ann and Eric. The structure of the video tells the audience the significance of the time that Ann spent with her son and makes the audience to question "What happened to him?". Also, when she zooms into certain pictures, she draws the audiences' attention to the picture. Her voice affects the audience's opinions and makes us to believe that her feelings are true and she truly prays for her son.

Personally, I think this video is very well-made. The video's point of view, dramatic structure, emotional content, gift of the creator's voice, power of sound track, and pacing were very well used and affected the film as a whole. The story is explained in Anne's point of view which helped me to build a connection with Anne and the structure of the video made me think of the presence, past, and future of her son's life. Anne narrates the story in a very calm voice but I was still able to absorb her emotion underneath her voice. The power of sound track and pacing also helped me to understand the story and her feelings.

Blog Post 2

"Dear Jody"

www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=2

This video really touched my heart. The video begins with her name and the black background. Then the story begins with a scene of Sasha Charles writing a letter to her brother named Jody. She states that May 11, 1994 is a very important day for her beause Jody, her brother came into her life. There is a slow music in that background that contains slow beats which helps the story to move in a motion; it creates a smooth transtion. The pictures change in a medium speed as she explains her story. She tells her brother that she was able to go through the hard time because Jody stayed with Sasha. Sasha's benevolent voice tone reminds me to think of her as Jody's mother. She also mentions in her video that they had such a close relationship that she was like a mother to him. When they were separated, Sasha felt melancholy but she was very proud of her brother for keeping his grades up and being strong. Jody was her role model; she went through a rough time but she realized that she needs to be strong and changed her behavior. In this video, Sasha's voice tone is very calm, it can almost be considered as a mono tone. When she wants to draw the audiences' attention, she zooms into the picture. She used the videos in the beginning and the middle of the story to show the audience of herself writing a letter to Jody and also the rough time she had during high school.However, the lack of motion does not disconnect the relation between her and the audience because she notes that she is very proud of herself for sharing this video to the public and connects her feelings with the audience. The audience, at this moment, finds that they can relate to her story and her thoughts. I felt a connection with Sasha from watching this video because my sisters always protected me and kept me warm as well when I went through a hard time. My sisters are my best friends and they have always been my role models. This video helped me realize how much I care about my sister, similar to how Sasha cares about her brother Jody.

Whats up my name is Cameron Wilson

I play football for the University of Minnesota

1. I was born in Dallas,Tx
2. I like to play sports
3. I am 1000 miles away from home
4. Coming up to Minnesota wasn't an option for me until the week i was graduating
5. I'm mixed with black and white
6. I'm 18 yrs old
7. I like to sleep but since I have been up here I haven't gotten much
8. I play video games when I can
9. I love listening to music mostly r&b and rap
   
10. I can be a shy person

WATCH THE VIDEO

My Car!

                 This story is about people who decide to pack up a lot of stuff and go travel around the country. They are from Great Britian treaving the country. You know how people say lets just get up and go that's what they did just got up and went. They packed up everything that they could and started driving. Which reminds me of what my family once did before we just got up and drove to L.A. from Indianapolis which was the longest drive ever. We was in the car for about three days. We packed coolers and food and we really got close as a family on the drove there and coming back.But we did have a good time and a good binding time to. So I know what its like to be like that. So that what she did in the story. She stop off on the weekends and party and had a good time while driving through the country.She had her friend travel with her and she just had a great time with her friends like what me and my family did when we took our trip. Some times she even sleep in her car which my family and I did to. But I wounder is how much did she pay for gas traveling around the country. With gas being so high it was a lot I bet. But looked like she had a great time which is the only thing that matters if you are having a good time which is what she had.

1.Favorite movie             2. Favorite Male artist                                  3. Favorite fem. Artist 

4. Favorite color Lime Green

5. Love to paint and make pottery 

6. Plan on moving to Jamacia when Im 25

7. ....is my lucky numbeR

8. How many years I've played  PIANO

9. Embarrassingly afraid of thunder storms !

10. Favorite book : The Auto Biography of Malcom X

1. Love to play football.
2. When I'm inside doing nothing I love sleeping.
3. I like playing video games on free time.
4. My favorite movie is Menace II Society
5. My favorite rapper is Lil Wayne
6. I love money.
7. I love my mother.
8. When I'm inside relaxing I like to watch Sponge Bob and watch Tom and Jerry.
9. I love my city the N.O and I feel no city is better.
10. Oh Yeah and I love sleeping.

1. graduated from woodbury high school

2. i believe beyonce is one of the sexiest women to walk the earth

3. i love to play competitive sports and games

4. my favorite food is tacos

5. I dont have a facebook

6. Im probably the only black man on the football team without a tattoo

7. I dont eat pork

8. I got 3 brothers that live in 3 different states.

9. Im very close with my moms

10. Im versatile when it comes to music

Watch the video here

The name of this video is "THE CAR", it was published by JANE TATUM

I choose this video because, i thought it was interesting that how much a person get's excited over a car. This video was about a young teenage female who had a car. With her car she felt she could do anything and go any where. She also felt that with a car it was going to be a better opportunity for her and her boyfriend to hang more. I think this video was made because the film maker really wanted to express how much she loved her car and also her boyfreiend. In my opinion, i think the film maker could've put more emotion into the video. She also could've improved on the actual quality of the video, it was a bit blurry. I also thought that there wasnt enough music in video which means it made it a bit doll. Lastly she could've improved on her voice because she was entirely to low in the video. The video didn't have a specifc date so it was hard for me to determine when it was done. 

iANOTHER VIDEO TO WATCH

The name of this video is "why me!", it was done by Daniel DrinkWater. This was a very interesting video about this kid and how he feels about his mother. In the video his mother died of cancer and he took really hard. Throughout this stage he began to belittle his self and hurt his self. i choose this video because I felt like i could relate to the kid. however, i would never beat myself up over a death. but in a sense i could relate to the kid because in 2006 i lost my dad from cancer at the age of 14; i took it really hard. i felt like the music in the video was and the actual video quality was really good. i felt it could've been longer though and they improve on the emotion of the video.

The ladies name is Sonke and she's from South Africa.

The digital story that I watched was so very touching. It's her story and experience with gender-based violence, rape. The way that it was filmed played a HUGE role in why I felt this piece to be so touching. She used a short video clip of barbed wire, which I believe showed how she may have felt a prisoner of her own fear and terrible experience. Mostly it was images of her and a lady and her goddaughter. The pictures showed a timeline of her present life and she talked about how the people in them were very important to her, especially her goddaughter. She was narrating the piece herself with a soft African accent. The voice was sweet and relaxed, even though I don't know how she could talk about all the violence she experienced with such calmness. That alone makes me know that this women is very strong and a fighter. The music that was playing in the background was light and instrumental which fit in perfectly with what she was talking about and helped portray the exact emotion, there was also humming that was added in the end. It's a chilling video that shows both perseverance and a hope to make sure that this doesn't happen to any more women. There was one special effect in the clip that was near the beginning. I don't really know what type of sound it was but it's oddness just fit in with the piece.

Glenda Bonin put together this story to tell her fathers story and how he was dealing with being adopted back in the 50's when that wasn't accepted. To set off the mood, this story is started with old 50's music playing in the beginning. This is the last time you hear any music until the ending of the piece. It also begins with a photograph of an old trunk with books andProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 0what not in it to set of the feel for this older story. The images that follow also go along with this theme. The black and white photographs of her family to show us who she's talking about, helping the viewer relate a little more. It was really nice how she also included a picture of her "grandmother". Other types of art that are shown are old letters that were written from her father and "grandmother." These images make you feel like you know that family a little better. Glenda is telling the story of her father, but as she saw it from her young age. Her soft voice, (which I'm finding to be verProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 common in storytellers,) helps you understand more about what she was enduring at the time. Even though there isn't any music or special effects, the way she talks brings you into the story with bits of exaggeration and slowing down at parts where it gets more serious. This digital story about the pains of having a secret and not being able to share it with anyone are definitely shown through the art and way she put this together.

BORN IN SANFORD FLORIDA

1. LOVE TO PLAY SPORTS

2. ENJOYS  HANG OUT

3. LOVE TO HAVE FUN

4. INTERESTED IN FEMALES

5. WILL BE PLAYING FOOTBALL FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 

6. LIKE TO FISH

7. GOOD LISTENER

8. LIKE COMDEY MOVIE

9. MAMA BOY KINDA

10. THINK IM PUT ON THIS EARTH TO HELP PEOPLE

Well so 10 things about me that makes me just one of a kind would be...

1. My favorite color is Lime Green

2. I love to cook, especially new creations that I think up.

3. My favorite seasons are Spring and Summer because I love the outdoors, swimsuits, and hot beach guys! haha

4. I LOVE to play and watch football. GO BEARS!!

5. I have a pet rat named Otis and he's just amazing. He's potty trained and comes when called, it's cute.

6. I was born in Iowa and we have a barn there.

7. I absolutely enjoy fresh green beans, and corn too! Best with butter and salt.

8. Spirals are my favorite shape in the whole wide world, as you can tell by my picture! Which is also my tattoo.

9. I'm the youngest of 4 kids, all of which are boys... it's fun.

10. And last but definately not least! SKITTLES ARE THE BEST THING EVER CREATED! I usually always have a bag of purple ones on me.

Well, thanks for getting to know me and hope ya enjoyed it!

1. I love playing soccer

2. I am first generation college student

3. I am Oromo

4. I can read and write in five different languages

5. I graduated from Fridley High School

6. Jersey # 11

7. I like watching sports on the weekend

8. I want to coach soccer someday

9. I am interested in Global Studies and Medicine

10. I enjoy learning about different cultures

I was born in Indianapolis

I like the movie Baby Boy "JODY JOE"

I like playing football

I play at the University of Minnesota

I like the movie any giving sunday

I like Nike shoes

I like the Indianapolis Colts

I like the Lakers and Kobe Braynt

I got one older brother

1. I live in Chicago, IL
2. I love to work out, such as lifting, running and biking
   
3. I go to school at the University of Minnesota
   
4. I wrestle for the University of Minnesota
5. I love fishing
   
6. My favorite movie is Stand By Me
   
7. I am an Illinois State Champion for wrestling in 2010
8. I love my family and family
9. I have a twin brother
10. I love going to the beach
    

1. i was born in new orelans                                     

2. i love pizza 

3. i am in a rap group called YUNG LEGENDZ

4. i play football for the university of minnesota

5. i love FOOTBALL

6. i have two sisters

7. dad died in 2006 of cancer

8. survived hurricane katrina

9. i had up to 22 full scholorship offers                  

10. i love my family

Left2Right: Sona, Belinda and Kristi

1.) ♥ I enjoy listening to music

2.) My favorite idol is Miyavi ♥

3.) I'm addicted to coffee ♥

4.) I am Hmong

5.) I love learning about new languages

6.) I don't like to read, but will only read when it is REQUIRED.

7.) My personality is pretty laid back or sometime it seems like I just don't care

9.) I like my space and freedom

10.) I love hanging out with my friends ♥

Hi. My name is Angie

MY birthday is May 18. 1992

I am a freshman 

I graduated from Chaska High School

I like meeting new people

I play tennis

I LOVE to dance and watch movies& sports games

I like taking pictures 

I want to become a doctor

I care about my friends, they are very important to me

I am very outgoing :)

I was born in NY.

I have two kids.

I am 18 years old.

1/4th Puerto Rican

I am almost always LAUGHING and SMILING! :)

My favorite song is OMG by Usher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnPB76mjxI

I am really excited about the weeks that lay ahead for us. I have many hopes for you all as students, as storytellers, and as incoming freshman here.

As you know, I graduated with a Ph.D. in Feminist Studies from the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and our classroom - The Rachel Raimist Feminist Media Center, is named in my honor.

I am an Assistant Professor of media production in the Department of Telecommunication and Film at the University of Alabama --- ROLL TIDE! --- but I am here just to teach this class, and spend the summer with you!

I lived in Minneapolis for graduate school for many years, so my "top 10" list is my 10 favorite things in/from Minneapolis:

1 - Minneapolis Hip Hop & Spoken Word

My favorites are: Maria Isa, Brother Ali, I Self Devine, Tish Jones and Desdamona

I'm even in Desdamona's "Too Big For My Skin" video:

2 - Non-profit Art Scene

Intermedia Arts (especially B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip Hop, an event I co-founded with amazing women, in 2005)

Juxtaposition Arts

Hope Community Center

Walker Art's Center WACTAC!

IFP Center for Media Arts

3 - Maria's Cafe

Breakfast for $4 early in the am

4 - Plum's Plus Size... big girls need gear too!

5 - Holy Land.... love me some gyros!

6 - Bryant Lake Bowl

7 - Voices Merging & Vices2Verses Conference

8 - MOA!

9 - Minnesota is the only state I've lived in to give me $$$ (grant funds) to make movies and put on shows!

Minnesota State Arts Board

Minnesota Regional Arts Grant

10 - The University of Minnesota!