Dear Reader,
As a Computer Science major, I was looking for any course that had to do with computers. I love typing, working on Photshop, and programming. So I figured any class with computers would be fun, even if the class was an English class. After my first class I realized how much I would enjoy it. Working with collages, music, podcasts, and html coding made me realize I was in for a really interesting semester and that I would soon find myself completely engulfed in my assignments. These assignments eventually grew into projects that made me have to expand my boundaries and work meticulously to perfect each detail. The peer feedback and the professor’s feedback have allowed me to refine my work even more than if I went through and tried to analyze my work. These projects have taken hours of work and the revisions have taken even more work, however I feel like I have presented my literary analysis in the best way possible through the medium I was using. When choosing my topics I decided to focus on literary topics and tried not to stray into music or movie characters too much. A lot of my experience comes from literary analysis so I stuck with what I felt comfortable, yet challenging because it would force me to put this analysis in a different for than an essay. I know it is easy to think this class is easy, but being a perfectionist this class takes the most out of me because I am always thinking of a way to improve the project I am currently working on or one I have already finished. This class made me realize that even though I have the technical skills, I may not have the work ethic to apply all of them, and that when I do put the effort in I can make some incredible things.

The main thing this class has taught me is to expand my horizons by using my peers. Not only their feedback, but by looking at exemplary work I have been able to improve my work, and I hope that I have helped others in some way. I usually pride myself on my ability to work on projects independently however this class has made me realize that I should refer to all possible sources of inspiration, especially the very talented individuals in my class. It has taken some getting used to but drawing from this collection of works has made me a better thinker especially when it comes to formatting details and staying meticulous. The comment system has been the best way for me to improve my projects, not only from my professor. And without it, my project revisions would have been me blindly trying to improve something.

Looking back on the hours of work I have put in this semester, I have to quote one of my favorite movies and ask "Was the juice worth the squeeze?" Did I get anything from putting hours into perfecting a podcast, or meticulously cutting out the Beowulf character only to find it already cut out on the Internet? I would have to say that this experience was every bit what I made of it. I don't think you could comprehend the level of learning in this class from me telling you about it. The only way to understand how this class has developed my thought process and understanding/use of feedback is to experience the class.

That is my goal in putting together this portfolio for you. This is not just an assignment, but a way to give you the class experience, through my eyes at least, without ever stepping foot in the classroom. Certain aspects such as the awesome discussions in class between the students, and occasionally the teacher, are missed, but most of them are extended on this site. So I encourage you to not only look at mine but to browse around for a better feel of the class discussion. And to get a real feel of how the class assignments helped me developed and challenged me keep reading!

Challenge
My challenge was essentially to focus less on the technical aspects of creating these projects, and to put my effort into the analytical part of these projects. Unfortunately, my teacher was able to see through some of my smoke screens and tell me that although it looked pretty, the content was lacking. So most of my revisions had to do with content and organization. My goal was to focus primarily on expanding my analysis in my playlist, podcast, and my video. The other focus was to work on not only expanding my content but organizing it better. I think the best example is my playlist which was my first project...

Playlist
Original Playlist
Final Playlist
This revision took me three hours. I worked so hard on making the spacing and tables perfect it completely engulfed this midterm portfolio. As I look back on this project, I did not see myself working for 4 hours total to complete this project, I thought because I knew html coding and I had a passion for music I would be able to ace it in no time, well once I saw other playlists I realized that mine needed a serious revamping. It was too gaudy and the background did not fit with a classic literary character such as Jay Gatsby. It may have fit with the hip-hop theme of the playlist however, it was just not working for the over all look. Kevin Minogue's playlist really gave me inspiration because it made me realize that a clean simple view with good content and a little color splashed throughout can make a much better playlist than if you deck it out with graphics and colors.

The process of thinking of songs for the playlist was probably the easiest part of the project for me. i knew immediately a couple songs in my head, I am not sure why I picked Jay Gatsby but my knowledge of songs, especially hip hop songs, allowed me to collect a list immediately. The hard part was organizing the information, and analyzing the song like literature. Once I managed to do that, getting it down was another task. I tried big flashy decorations and backgrounds and fonts, but found that they just took away from my playlist. I finally did a very simple well organized playlist. For my next revision, yes I am going to have to work more on this I am a perfectionist, I am going to work on the content of the playlist more. Once I get a little more analysis I think I will have a final draft of the playlist project.

Collages
Original Poetry Collage
Revised Poetry Collage
The collages were my favorite project. The poetry collage for some reason came to me instantly. This poem is one of my favorites because of the tone it sets right from the first line. It has touched me the deepest, and the analysis is one that I will always remember doing. The idea of this collage was to get across the message about death, the choice to live, and the importance of the horse as his only companion. I added words to the collage to give it a more eerie touch.

Having previous experience with Photoshop, it was a little easier to do technical things. I tried helping everybody out suggesting brush patterns and even going over to people trying to help, because it is a passion of mine. Getting out of my comfort zone and making a collage was slightly more difficult than I thought though. I have made images for web pages and that experience took over when I started and gave me a very good picture but it did not give me a collage. Making it a collage, with more than one or two images was hard. There will be more revisions to come I'm sure but I think the most recent one is one of my best works.

Original Collage
Revised Character Collage
I really liked my original collage and I was not sure what I could possibly do to the collage that I would still Like. I decided that there needed to be a little more proportion in the color department when it comes to each side of the canvas. So to offset the golden chain, I placed in the dragon with the claw marks. I think it is a good representation of what made Beowulf strong even if he did give in to his lust. His ability to defend people who are not able to defend themselves is what makes him a hero, plus the scene with the dragon was one of the best parts of the movie/epic. I think the color balance evened things out and the contour of the tail draws the viewer to the lion and keeps the eye moving around the picture to compliment the sweeping brush strokes of color.

Podcast
Original Young Jeezy Podcast
Final Young Jeezy Podcast
The podcast was probably my least favorite assignment. i liked my topic but I don't particularly like recording my voice and I am not very comfortable with it. Recording my voice was actually the hardest part about this project because my roommate was always in my room and I had trouble finding a place I was comfortable recording my voice. I went back to my house over Thanksgiving and was able to find time to slow down and do my voice recordings for my podcast and video. The comfortable atmosphere was a must for me. I liked working with Audacity however. it is a really cool useful program that I can see myself using in the future. Unfortunately, this project did not necessarily inspire me to start a podcast blog on iTunes but I think the second version came out pretty decent if I do say so myself.

Video

Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense

The video was a fun project because it required learning a completely different program which will prove useful. I avoided mash-ups because I did not have the attention span for them. Instead I chose a famous filmmaker and focused on how he made such great movies. I chose Alfred Hitchcock and was able to find a lot about his techniques. His movies "Psycho" and "Vertigo" were the ones that really stood out to me and I asked Dan for some clips from the movie. It really came together when I added the text and the voice overs and I am very happy with my final product. The analysis in my work improved and that was what Dan challenged me to do. I am glad that I went out of my comfort zone and did the research and went that extra step to ask "why" in regards to my topic.

Favorites
I just thought I would give my two cents on which classmate did the best job for each project:
Playlist
Notebook Playlist
Ashton did a great job with a cool character. Her clips from the movie, lyrics, organization, and pictures worked well together and she was able to create quite the playlist.

Character Collage
Star Girl
Caitlin did such a great job with this I was so impressed with the colors and the masking of the objects is great. This character collage also had the best flow. It upheld the definition of collage by containing a good amount of images but was able to keep your eye moving.

Poetry Collage
The Road Not Taken
Love the poem, love the colors, love the movement. I think it is my favorite collage out of all of them. Meredith did a great job.

Podcast
Third Eye Blind
Easiest to listen to, great flow, and awesome analysis. Favorite one by far. Minogue also has a great voice for the podcasts.

Videos
This one was by far the hardest one to pick. It was really obvious that these were made at the end of the semester because everyone's technical abilities had come so far and there were so many great projects. i'd have to say the Aladdin Trailer Mash-up won though.
Pirates of Agrabah
Ashton did another awesome job with this one. Probably one of the coolest clips I have seen on youtube in general.

Comments
This is a comment I made about the cool video done on Chigur and Terminator!

I made a comment about Kevin's cool podcast on one of my favorite bands, Third Eye Blind.

This comment is on the "Filling Station" collage which was really well revised and has alot of cool colors and themes.

Here I made a comment about "No Country for Old Men", more specifically about Chigur's character.

This comment was about Anthony Abraham's portfolio and how it raised the standards for other portfolios.

This is Meredith Will's collage that I made a comment about, talking about the great direction of the piece and how it has good movement and colors.

I posted a blog about how to install brush packs into GIMP and where to find the brushes.

This is a comment I made about Kelsey Finn's Beatles podcast and how it is a very strong, but lengthy, project.

I made a comment about Kevin Minogue's Third Eye Blind podcast and its strengths.

I posted the list of songs we used in our live Jimi Hendrix podcast.

This is my playlist reflection.

Finally, the first comment I made on this site talked about how the Notorious B.I.G was one of the most poetic artists.

Thanks for reading, hope to hear your feedback soon!