Thursday (4:30 to 7:30 p.m.), ROOM 305/Murray Hall
Aimee LaBrie
Office Hours: Thur. 1:30-2:30 in Room 001-A, 536 George St.
Also by appointment
*Please note that blog assignments and readings are subject to change based on class dynamics, collective skill set, and needs.
Course blog:
www.diariesofjaneerr.blogspot.com
Course Description:
Sometimes, it feels like the news has everything covered: politics, entertainment, climate change, business. But there’s something only you can report on: The story of your everyday life, how your immediate world keeps changing. The questions at the heart of this course are: What makes your world yours? How do you represent yourself as a character in your own story? To help us answer these and other questions, we will analyze the fragmentary nature of multimedia forms--blog posts, podcasts, and short videos—and explore how we can use them to construct a vision of ourselves and puzzle out our ever-changing world.
The key to effective and meaningful expression lies in the marriage of content to form. Like all expressive forms, the forms of digital media we will be working in this semester present us with possibilities and constraints peculiar to them. In this course we will identify the essential characteristics of blogs, podcasts, video essays, and video features and consider how we can make use of both their strengths and their limitations to tell our stories. In particular, taking our cue from the prevailing tendency of these digital formats to be compact, we will look at a variety of examples of short narrative forms (e.g., personal essays, lyric essays, short fiction); rhetorical devices such as the use of synecdoche (the part for the whole) and microcosms; and the impact of visual and textual fragments to help us think about how to craft our digital content.
SAS Core Goals:
This course fulfills the following SAS Common Core Curriculum Goals:
• Engage critically in the process of creative expression. [AHR]
• Employ current technologies to access information, to conduct research, and to communicate findings. [ITR]
Please note: it is now possible to earn a Certificate in Creative Writing from the English Department (visit the English Department for more information).
Assigned Texts and Required Materials:
- Class readings will be hyperlinked in the course schedule below or provided to you as handouts or PDF files.
- An internet-accessible computer, smart phone, microphone, and headphones (you will be able to use the laptops provided in our classroom if you don’t have one)
Attendance/Participation/Workshop 15%
Blog Postings and Responses 30%
Podcast, including script 20%
Project Proposal/Storyboard 10%
Final Video Project, including script notes 25%
Attendance/Participation (15%): College policy is that more than two weeks’ worth of absences puts a student at risk of failure; in this particular class, be aware that—since we meet only once a week—two missed classes will decrease your grade and put you at risk of failure. Program policy dictates that students with more than four absences (in our case, two classes), regardless of the reason for the absence, are not eligible to receive an “A” grade. University policy excuses absences due to religious observance or participation in Rutgers-approved activities, and permits students to make up work missed for these circumstances. Students are expected to attend all classes; if you expect to miss one or two classes, please use the University absence reporting website https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ to indicate the date and reason for your absence. An email will be sent to me automatically. Being twenty minutes late to class constitutes ½ an absence. Full participation credit requires active and regular engagement with the course material and with the work of your peers (particularly the student presentations). If you find that you are at a loss of what to say, try to formulate a question in response to the course content; you are encouraged, in fact, to come to class with at least one carefully considered question and comment about the assigned reading.
Blog Postings and Responses (30%):
You will be required to publish a total of 11 blog posts on your own individual blog and periodically comment on the class blog. Your personal blog will also be used to host your final project. Each post should be between 500-700 words and include a multimedia component, such as web links, still images, video, and audio links. You are require to post the word count at the top of your entry.
Each blog post is worth 2 points.
I recommend http://www.blogger.com for hosting your blog site.
The writing on your individual blog and on the class blog should be clear, carefully considered, well-crafted, and error free; it is advisable that you compose with Microsoft Word before publishing your writing online.
There are a number of criteria to consider in evaluating the site as you work on it:
- a thoughtful domain name was chosen and framed in a site description (this could be in the about page),
- a thoughtful site title is clearly presented, an "about me" page exists (there are many ways to do this),
- a theme was chosen and customized reflecting you and the direction of your blog,
- plug-ins to add functionality have been activated, possibly adding hooks to various social media, creating galleries, etc.,
- blog posts are appropriately categorized and tagged, and
- all default pages, posts, comments, site description have been removed.
Learning good blogging practices is an essential component to this course. For that reason each blog post has its own value separate from the digital story project, critique, weekly reflection, and/or event you’re organizing that is described in the post. Essentially you should treat a post in one of two ways: simply reporting out or a deeper reflection. It is up to you the level of reflection you contain in a post, but the attributes of a good post are as follows:
Posts are graded using the following criteria:
- a thoughtful title
- an embedded media artifact relevant to the assignment (image, video, audio)
- a clear statement of the post’s purpose
- at least one contextual link related to the post’s purpose
- a clear statement of reflection
- good use of categories and tags
- appropriate grammar and syntax.
Podcast Project (20%)*:
Working in pairs, you will collaboratively conceive, plan, research, and execute a podcast project that tells a fictional story. You will be able to work on this project both during class and outside of class time.
The goal of the podcast project is to familiarize you with audio editing (through the Audacity or Garage Band platform) and to provide you with an opportunity to devise a way to tell a story using the short-form audio format.
Requirements:
- Minimum of two voices in your story
- Two or more related sound effects
- Incorporation of music
- Post final podcast on your blog using SoundCloud or related software
- Total length: seven to 10 minutes.
- Proposal and script draft due: Tuesday, October 10. Bring copies to class.
- The final and complete podcast must be posted to your blog by Tuesday, Oct. 24.
*Please note: Because this is a joint project, you will be asked to anonymously evaluate your partner (and vice versa). Your evaluations will be worth 5 % of the final grade for the project.
Final Video Project (35%):
Project Proposal/Storyboard 10%
Final Video Project, including script/notes 25%
Your project should be a multimedia work that will be posted on your individual blog. It can take a variety of forms depending on your interests as a writer, and we will talk about multimedia nonfiction, poetry, and fiction in the first few weeks to give you some productive ideas.
Start thinking about your project early: a one page project proposal and blog postl will be due to me by Oct. 31 and you will have a chance to peer workshop your proposal on Nov. 2. Language from your proposal might eventually lead to a brief critical introduction that you will be required to include in your final portfolio.
The structural guidelines for the project are as follows:
- That you generate a video that is between five and seven minutes in length (no longer than ten minutes)
- That you develop a project proposal prior to making the video.
- That you include in your project a storyboard and script/'notes for the video.
- That you make creative use of the medium (i.e. the iMovie or Movie Maker software program) - avoid simply collecting and splicing several long take video clips or that you throw a series of video capture clips together without any creative thought behind your construction - remember, as viewer engages with videos in fundamentally different ways than they do with print text, it will be necessary to approach this from the standpoint of a consumer/producer of media (i.e. anyone with a computer and a Wi-Fi connection in the 21st century)
- Storyboard 16 panels due by Thursday, Nov. 30
- Copy of video embedded into your blog by Wednesday, Dec. 6.
Begin to acquire your supplies. If you need to collect video clips, do so. If you need to generate footage, first come up with a list of what you want to capture and what you need to get, if you are in a group, develop a distribution list for what each group member will be working on.
A word of warning: Both iMovie and MovieMaker can get glitchy. Be sure to save your project as you go. The last thing you want is to work for two hours on your video and then have it vanish. Please also note that technical difficulties on your end are not grounds for an extension on your project. You should be backing your video up as you go, and building in time for technical challenges. If you have technical difficulties, use a computer lab. You will not receive an extension on this deadline due to technical problems of any kind.
A word of warning: Both iMovie and MovieMaker can get glitchy. Be sure to save your project as you go. The last thing you want is to work for two hours on your video and then have it vanish. Please also note that technical difficulties on your end are not grounds for an extension on your project. You should be backing your video up as you go, and building in time for technical challenges. If you have technical difficulties, use a computer lab. You will not receive an extension on this deadline due to technical problems of any kind.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Sept. 7
What is multimedia? What is storytelling? What are “telling” details?
Examples of digital, new media, or multimedia literature:
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #1:
1. Set up a personal blog and email me the URL ASAP, so I can link you to the course blog.
2. Write your first blog post in which you introduce yourself and/or your world to your readership. Use a vignette (i.e., tell us about a funny/strange/unexpected thing that happened to you recently) or explain why, when you think about presenting yourself, you always refer to one particular aspect of your personality (a skill or attribute) or your life (e.g., where you’re from).
3. Take at least eight photos that illustrate your story and include captions. Find the telling detail.
4. Selfies are boring. Do something interesting. Scan a photo of your mom’s yearbook photo, a picture of your goldfish as seen from above, your fifth grade school picture. Be imaginative and revealing.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 12
READING HOMEWORK: Review the syllabus. Read “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott
Sept. 14
Detail and scene. Structure in storytelling.
Go over blog posts and examples. Short tutorial.
In-class writing: 6 scenes in 30 minutes.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #2: Take one of the scenes you wrote in class and revise it for a blog post. This post must include the word count, and must be between 500 to 700 words long. Keep it in scene as much as possible, using sensory details and specificity.
In addition, include a separate visual montage that could tell your story without your words. This could be in the form of a series of pictures, a comic strip, a video post where you read part of the scene...Anything that takes your words from the page and recreates the words in a new format. Your goal is to find a visual way to show your story with fewer words.
You can do this assignment in one blog post or two separate posts.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 19
READING HOMEWORK: “The Active Voice: 12 Poems on Contemporary Art” by Raphael Rubenstein and "The Tower and the Net," by Janet Burroway.
Sept. 21
Digital Narrative/Text & Image. The collage. Creating gifs and review of Hilary Faye's Paper Orchard.
BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: #3 & 4
1. Review the blog postsecret.com. Either digitally or by hand, create your own postcard, and add the text of a character's secret. Your postcard must have an image, text, and function as a gif. You can use giphy.com to do this. You could also make the postcard by hand and add text, and photograph it. We will consider the secret a fictional one that is part of character development.
Please note, unlike the posts on postsecret.com, these posts are not anonymous, so do not post any secrets that involve illegal activity or that would alarm classmates about your safety.
Post this image to your blog.
2. Read Pam Painter's Office at Night and then write 350 words of a story inspired by your favorite painting/picture. Include the picture/painting in your post.
3. ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Bring in hard copies of two poems that you like.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 26
Sept. 28
Confessional poetry. Voice. Podcasts. Assign partners. Brainstorming your podcast idea.
Text & Image. “A View: Office at Night.”
Dialogue and poetry exercise.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #4:
1. Using one of the poems you brought to class, record it using Audacity.
2. Include music. Play with one of the effects available on Audacity.
3. Post the recording of the poem to your blog.
READ: “War of the Worlds” script
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 3.
ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Listen to episodes 2, 3, & 4 of Homecoming on Gimlet Media
Oct. 5
Sound & Story. The arc of a Podcast. Interviews. Music and Sound Effects. In class-writing with partner.
Listen to War of the World radio show
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #5: With your partner, begin writing your podcast story. Post at least 750 words of your script to your blog (about 5 pages double spaced). Let me know which one of you will do the post on his/her blog. Include a description of the podcast idea outlining the setting, characters, and scenes planned. List out three ideas for sound effects/music/characters you might consider using in the podcast.
ADDITIONAL BLOG ASSIGNMENT: Listen to Homecoming episodes 5 & 6 and post a response of at least 350 words to your blog.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Bring 9 copies of your podcast script and idea to class.
READ: CDC Audio Script Writing Guide
Oct. 12
The Podcast script/Workshop
BRING IN 9 COPIES OF A ROUGH DRAFT OF YOUR PODCAST SCRIPT AND IDEA. In class, we will be passing these around to workshop.
Homework:
Read interview with Daisy Johnson on American Short Fiction and "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle"
Read interview with Rebecca Schiff from The Rumpus and "Sports Night."
Prepare two or three questions to ask each writer during the broadcast.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #7: Write a response to your meeting with the authors. What advice did they offer that you might use as a writer? What were your impressions of their work or their approach to writing? What surprised you about the experience?
Post must be between 500 & 700 words and include an image that encapsulates your thoughts and possibly pictures or sounds from the meeting. Include word count in your post. You can also use the post to comment on Johnson's or Schiff's stories above.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 24.
Thurs. Oct. 19
Class will be held in the Plangere Writing Center (room next to ours). Attendance will be taken by professor leading the class and you will have to sign in.
Due: Final podcast due on Tuesday, Oct. 24 to be posted on your blog as a WAV file.
Begin working on your video story proposal idea. Come into class ready to pitch two or three ideas for your final project.
Oct. 26
Video Projects/Story-boarding/Learning MovieMaker and iMovie techniques
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #8: Free-write about your video project proposal. Include at least three possible images/photos you may use. Answer these questions: What is the story you are trying to tell? What are you most passionate about? Where should you begin? Why should your viewer be interested? What is it like (i.e. what are your sources for inspiration)? You can even begin writing the text to accompany this project.
Length: Minimum of 750 words.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 31.
ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Bring in a project proposal to class to share on Thursday. This should include details about the nature of the project, what elements you will need to gather (such as video footage or photos), and what you are trying to show the viewer.
Nov. 2
Collecting images, sounds, and videos. Outside exercise for sounds/conversations/images.
Watch:
HOMEWORK: Work on your script and begin creating a storyboard for planning. Begin working on a draft of your multimedia project.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT#9: Using the images or photos you found on campus, create a short video (1 to 3 minutes) that uses music, image, and video. This can be related or unrelated to your final project. Post on your blog with an analysis about the experience—what you are drawn to, what interests you most. Upload the content to your blog via a Vimeo or YouTube account.
Word count: 500 to 750 words.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Nov. 9
Introduction to Story-boarding and group exercise.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #10: Realistically recreate one minute video of "Fourth State of Matter" using voice over narration and images.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Additional homework:
Read Beard's "Fourth State of Matter" (hand-out) and bring essay to class.
Draft first 8 sections of your video essay project with narration and images using class hand-out.
Nov. 16
Story-telling. In class writing.
Homework: Work on video project.
Nov. 23
Thanksgiving Recess/No class
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #10: Either using the individualized writing assignment from class or your own words, write 850 words about your project. They can be anything related to your project, but think about writing specific scenes that could then translate into narration for your video. This free-write is to give you space and time to write about your project and to find your way.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 28
Storyboard: Storyboard the first 16 frames of your movie. Bring in 9 hard copies to class for workshop. Do not bring in scribbles or hastily done scraps of paper. Use this time to really construct your story visually and with words.
This is worth 5% of your total grade.
Due: Thursday, Nov. 30
Nov. 30
From word to image. In-class video editing. Storyboard workshop.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #11: Review your progress for the semester. Evaluate yourself and what you’ve learned, what you would still like to learn, where you would like to pursue your interests. Include photos, and videos that relate to your experience.
HOMEWORK: Post your final video on your blog with a short description about the process and aim of the piece.
Due: Dec. 6: FINAL VIDEOS/PROJECT
Dec. 7
Concluding discussion and peer video watching.
Sept. 7
What is multimedia? What is storytelling? What are “telling” details?
Examples of digital, new media, or multimedia literature:
- Kate Greenstreet’s “locating faraway objects”
- Sawako Nakayasu's Insect Country G
- Ander Monson’s “For Orts”
- Keith Obadike’s “Blackness for Sale”
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #1:
1. Set up a personal blog and email me the URL ASAP, so I can link you to the course blog.
2. Write your first blog post in which you introduce yourself and/or your world to your readership. Use a vignette (i.e., tell us about a funny/strange/unexpected thing that happened to you recently) or explain why, when you think about presenting yourself, you always refer to one particular aspect of your personality (a skill or attribute) or your life (e.g., where you’re from).
3. Take at least eight photos that illustrate your story and include captions. Find the telling detail.
4. Selfies are boring. Do something interesting. Scan a photo of your mom’s yearbook photo, a picture of your goldfish as seen from above, your fifth grade school picture. Be imaginative and revealing.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 12
READING HOMEWORK: Review the syllabus. Read “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott
Sept. 14
Detail and scene. Structure in storytelling.
Go over blog posts and examples. Short tutorial.
In-class writing: 6 scenes in 30 minutes.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #2: Take one of the scenes you wrote in class and revise it for a blog post. This post must include the word count, and must be between 500 to 700 words long. Keep it in scene as much as possible, using sensory details and specificity.
In addition, include a separate visual montage that could tell your story without your words. This could be in the form of a series of pictures, a comic strip, a video post where you read part of the scene...Anything that takes your words from the page and recreates the words in a new format. Your goal is to find a visual way to show your story with fewer words.
You can do this assignment in one blog post or two separate posts.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 19
READING HOMEWORK: “The Active Voice: 12 Poems on Contemporary Art” by Raphael Rubenstein and "The Tower and the Net," by Janet Burroway.
Sept. 21
Digital Narrative/Text & Image. The collage. Creating gifs and review of Hilary Faye's Paper Orchard.
BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: #3 & 4
1. Review the blog postsecret.com. Either digitally or by hand, create your own postcard, and add the text of a character's secret. Your postcard must have an image, text, and function as a gif. You can use giphy.com to do this. You could also make the postcard by hand and add text, and photograph it. We will consider the secret a fictional one that is part of character development.
Please note, unlike the posts on postsecret.com, these posts are not anonymous, so do not post any secrets that involve illegal activity or that would alarm classmates about your safety.
Post this image to your blog.
2. Read Pam Painter's Office at Night and then write 350 words of a story inspired by your favorite painting/picture. Include the picture/painting in your post.
3. ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Bring in hard copies of two poems that you like.
Due: Tuesday, Sept. 26
Sept. 28
Confessional poetry. Voice. Podcasts. Assign partners. Brainstorming your podcast idea.
Text & Image. “A View: Office at Night.”
Dialogue and poetry exercise.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #4:
1. Using one of the poems you brought to class, record it using Audacity.
2. Include music. Play with one of the effects available on Audacity.
3. Post the recording of the poem to your blog.
READ: “War of the Worlds” script
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 3.
ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Listen to episodes 2, 3, & 4 of Homecoming on Gimlet Media
Oct. 5
Sound & Story. The arc of a Podcast. Interviews. Music and Sound Effects. In class-writing with partner.
Listen to War of the World radio show
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #5: With your partner, begin writing your podcast story. Post at least 750 words of your script to your blog (about 5 pages double spaced). Let me know which one of you will do the post on his/her blog. Include a description of the podcast idea outlining the setting, characters, and scenes planned. List out three ideas for sound effects/music/characters you might consider using in the podcast.
ADDITIONAL BLOG ASSIGNMENT: Listen to Homecoming episodes 5 & 6 and post a response of at least 350 words to your blog.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Bring 9 copies of your podcast script and idea to class.
READ: CDC Audio Script Writing Guide
Oct. 12
The Podcast script/Workshop
BRING IN 9 COPIES OF A ROUGH DRAFT OF YOUR PODCAST SCRIPT AND IDEA. In class, we will be passing these around to workshop.
Homework:
Read interview with Daisy Johnson on American Short Fiction and "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle"
Read interview with Rebecca Schiff from The Rumpus and "Sports Night."
Prepare two or three questions to ask each writer during the broadcast.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #7: Write a response to your meeting with the authors. What advice did they offer that you might use as a writer? What were your impressions of their work or their approach to writing? What surprised you about the experience?
Post must be between 500 & 700 words and include an image that encapsulates your thoughts and possibly pictures or sounds from the meeting. Include word count in your post. You can also use the post to comment on Johnson's or Schiff's stories above.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 24.
Thurs. Oct. 19
Class will be held in the Plangere Writing Center (room next to ours). Attendance will be taken by professor leading the class and you will have to sign in.
Due: Final podcast due on Tuesday, Oct. 24 to be posted on your blog as a WAV file.
Begin working on your video story proposal idea. Come into class ready to pitch two or three ideas for your final project.
Oct. 26
Video Projects/Story-boarding/Learning MovieMaker and iMovie techniques
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #8: Free-write about your video project proposal. Include at least three possible images/photos you may use. Answer these questions: What is the story you are trying to tell? What are you most passionate about? Where should you begin? Why should your viewer be interested? What is it like (i.e. what are your sources for inspiration)? You can even begin writing the text to accompany this project.
Length: Minimum of 750 words.
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 31.
ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK: Bring in a project proposal to class to share on Thursday. This should include details about the nature of the project, what elements you will need to gather (such as video footage or photos), and what you are trying to show the viewer.
Nov. 2
Collecting images, sounds, and videos. Outside exercise for sounds/conversations/images.
Watch:
- Video tutorial
- Ro.me (interactive game play)
- Cartoons
- Girls
- Seven deadly sins
- Killing Kennedy
- The Tale of Two Tyras
- Snow Fall: The Avalanche
- “This is Water”
HOMEWORK: Work on your script and begin creating a storyboard for planning. Begin working on a draft of your multimedia project.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT#9: Using the images or photos you found on campus, create a short video (1 to 3 minutes) that uses music, image, and video. This can be related or unrelated to your final project. Post on your blog with an analysis about the experience—what you are drawn to, what interests you most. Upload the content to your blog via a Vimeo or YouTube account.
Word count: 500 to 750 words.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Nov. 9
Introduction to Story-boarding and group exercise.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #10: Realistically recreate one minute video of "Fourth State of Matter" using voice over narration and images.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Additional homework:
Read Beard's "Fourth State of Matter" (hand-out) and bring essay to class.
Draft first 8 sections of your video essay project with narration and images using class hand-out.
Nov. 16
Story-telling. In class writing.
Homework: Work on video project.
Nov. 23
Thanksgiving Recess/No class
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #10: Either using the individualized writing assignment from class or your own words, write 850 words about your project. They can be anything related to your project, but think about writing specific scenes that could then translate into narration for your video. This free-write is to give you space and time to write about your project and to find your way.
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 28
Storyboard: Storyboard the first 16 frames of your movie. Bring in 9 hard copies to class for workshop. Do not bring in scribbles or hastily done scraps of paper. Use this time to really construct your story visually and with words.
This is worth 5% of your total grade.
Due: Thursday, Nov. 30
Nov. 30
From word to image. In-class video editing. Storyboard workshop.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT #11: Review your progress for the semester. Evaluate yourself and what you’ve learned, what you would still like to learn, where you would like to pursue your interests. Include photos, and videos that relate to your experience.
HOMEWORK: Post your final video on your blog with a short description about the process and aim of the piece.
Due: Dec. 6: FINAL VIDEOS/PROJECT
Dec. 7
Concluding discussion and peer video watching.
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