Home

Thomas Ryan's Official Portfolio

Submitted by Thomas Ryan on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 12:54

Dear Reader,

With 21st century technology rapidly increasing, everything is done on computers. To be successful, a solid background with technology is very helpful. I am not the guy you want designing your PowerPoint or making your campaign poster. With that in mind, the work I have done this semester has been challenging. I signed up for this class for the simple reason that I am not the best with computers and I figured it would be a great opportunity to enhance my skills. At this point, I can honestly say I think completely differently when it comes to using technology to depict my thoughts. These projects have stretched me to levels I didn't think were attainable. I can easily say this portfolio is the most amusing major academic assignment I have ever completed. It has made me realize that you don't need to write a 1500 word essay to explain a character, but simply a collage of images. The way I approach a work of literature or an English assignment has been completely revolutionized. No longer do I think about reading comprehension and short answers as the sole measures of how well you understand literature.

The creation of a playlist can show the same understanding of literature (music). The process of selecting songs for my Forrest Gump Playlist was the most enjoyable individual assignment I have done thus far. I read lyrics and listen to over 30 marvelous songs in an effort to select the most applicable ones to explain the character Forrest Gump. My appreciation for music was enhanced, and the first thing I do when I hear a song playing is look up the lyrics so I can try to understand the full meaning of a song.

When the Podcast project was assigned, I was extremely nervous at the thought of having to record and edit sound bites. The technology was frightening, and it took me awhile to face the fact that I was going to have to spend a few hours with Garageband (Mac song creating software) trying to figure out all of the features. After taking online tutorials and getting lessons from my professor Dan Anderson, I became much more comfortable with the process. I have listened to my Podcast a number of times to wrinkle out minor things that make everything sound much smoother. If you heard some of the songs I selected for my playlist on the radio, you would not think for a second that they could be used in academic assignment. However, once you understand the theme behind the Podcast, and the message I am trying to portray, you will capture the essence of how the movie "Fight Club" can be fit into academia

English and Computers Seminar has not only increased my knowledge about how to incorporate technology into an English assignment, but it has also increased my overall tech skills. At the beginning of this semester I was not the type of student that enjoyed learning about different software applications. The term “tutorials” was my least favorite word, and you could never find me doing something that was outside of my comfort zone. However, I have definitely found a new appreciation for experimenting with new programs and features within a specific program.

I am now going to get into the specific parts of the assignment. When going through my portfolio, keep in mind how I used technology to further enhance some aspect of literature. Whether it is music editing, creating a collage or using a iMovie to create a video, technology is being used all the time in the 21st century as a new form of literary work.

Playlist:
Out of all the assignments up to this point, the Playlist Assignment was the most entertaining. The initial process of choosing a character was an enjoyable feat. I went through the possibilities of many of my favorite movies including—The Godfather, Boondock Saints, and The Shawshank Redemption. However when I thought about the nature of the movie and a specific character in a film that I most admired, choosing Forrest Gump was a no-brainer.

After the initial process of selecting a character, I immediately popped in the DVD and watched the film to have everything fresh in my mind. Next, I went to the brainstorming process. I chose to create a chart in which I tried to list character traits to describe Forrest Gump. It seems like an easy feat, but this process actually took some deep thinking, as I was trying to find the six to eight absolute best traits. Once I had created a list of traits or sentences to describe Forrest I went on to the most meaningful part of the playlist—selecting the songs.

Selecting the songs to insert into my playlist was a process that took me several hours. I probably listened and read lyrics to over fifty songs over a couple days in a quest to find the perfect fits. The first part of the process entailed brainstorming a song that fit Forrest Gump’s personality. After I had about three or four songs for each trait, I read the lyrics over thoroughly to decide if it was a good fit. After sifting through the inapplicable songs, I continued to listen to each of the songs. Just because a song has the correct lyrics, it certainly does not automatically mean it is a great fit for the playlist. The tone and melody add a huge dimension to a song, and the meaning can go a very different direction depending on if it is an upbeat or slower beat. I encountered several songs that had great lyrics but just did not fit for one reason or another.

After finding the perfect eight songs (in my opinion), I went through and found the right codes to enter into the Playlist. I decided it would add a new dimension if some of the playlist was visual and some was strictly music, so I chose to put on three YouTube videos. Following the actual construction of my playlist, I followed my discussing each song and why I chose to add it.

The analysis of each song is extremely tough and requires deep thought. It took me several revisions to add enough meaning into each description to give the Playlist enough detail. Overall, the Playlist was an absolute joy to create, and it did not require an enormous amount of tech savvy to complete. It was simply a long process of sampling different songs with a goal of completely depicting the essence of Forrest Gump.

Now, I am going to send you to the first version of my Playlist so you can experience Forrest Gump for yourself:
Final Edition of Forrest Gump Playlist- http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/46

First Draft of Forrest Gump Playlist- http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/46/revisions/292/view

Podcast
The hardest part of this whole portfolio was the creation of the Podcast. There wasn’t just one specific part of the project that was hard (technology, process, ect…), it was just overall a hard and long project to complete. From the start, I had a hard time getting an idea for the Podcast. The range of things we could do it on was incredibility broad, so I went in and out of project ideas by the week.

At the beginning, I came up with the idea of showing the effects of how a song is perceived due to where it was played in a movie. At the bottom you will see a link for original version of Podcast. This version did not have a great focus, and was a little sloppy. It did not stick to one central idea, but did offer some thoughtful insight about society’s perception of songs because of where they are originally linked to.

The process of creating my Podcast was tricky. I used the file converter Zamzar in an effort to get the proper songs into my audio editing software. I have a Mac, so I chose to use Garageband. I had never used Garageband prior to this project, so there was a very steep learning curve that had to happen quickly. I immediately clicked through the help programs, and actually called one of my friends who is a Mac whiz to see if he could help me out. In the end, it was not the technology that was the trickiest part, but the analysis about each of the songs. It took me a long period of time (almost like I was writing a term paper) to form pick a topic, form a thesis and then find the proper information to back up my points.

In the end I chose to do my final Podcast revision on something I actually enjoyed. I tried to think of three of my favorite scenes in movies. Once I picked three, I began to ask why are these scenes my favorite, and do they all have something in common? By the end of my brainstorming process, I realized that all three scenes had music that had a phenomenal effect. It was an engaging topic to explore because it entailed watching about 10 to 15 different movie scenes (did not feel like I was preparing for an academic assignment, but simply relaxing). The final result came out much smoother than the original, and I feel like if I made another Podcast it would be better than this one. As with anything else that is new--practice makes perfect.

Link to original Podcast
http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/218

Link to Final Version of Podcast
http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/sites/default/files/FINAL%20VERSION_Podc...

Collages:
Creating the literary collages was one of the hardest tasks in this portfolio. When given the instructions, it does not seem like that challenging of an assignment. First, you must choose a character, and then you must combine different images in an effort to explain the essence of the character. However, it took a great deal of brainstorming and editing to come to a finished product. Also, the program Gimp was extremely difficult to manipulate at first. It took a great deal of trial and error to put the images together to give meaning to the collages.
In the first collage, I decided to depict the brothers in the film “Boondock Saints.” The theme of my collage involves the morality of the entire movie. The plot of the movie is two guys that have a revelation in their sleep where God gives them a mission. Their mission is to rid the earth of all evil, and they begin their quest killing mobster after mobster. The idea of the movie brings out a great deal of controversy if you parallel it to real life. The death penalty is an example that could be seen in the same light as what the brothers are doing. Yes, these men that are being killed are terrible people and don’t deserve another breath on this planet, but who is to say that two brothers can take their life? Is it okay for some people to play the role of God and decide the fate of another human’s life? Many people that are against capital punishment would definitely argue that this is a sin to take the life of another human and that is why I draw a line straight down the middle of the collage to separate heaven and hell (as well as the two sides of present day capital punishment controversy). The gates of heaven as well as the figure of Satan are faded into the corners of the image to add another dimension of good and evil. Overall, the character collage was a treat to work on and got me excited to move forward to the poetry collage. Here is the link to the collage where you can see the line drawn between what is morally right and wrong...

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

After thinking about many different poems, I decided the best thing that would suit my personality is to do a song instead, because after all, lyrics are poetry too. I went through a number of different genres and possibilities, but I thought the most poetic songs had to be country songs. Even though I am a country fan, it is certainly not my favorite genre. However, I could immediately think of a number of songs that would work perfectly with the collage. The song “Red Dirt Road” by Brooks and Dunn was the immediate thought that jumped out at me. When I think of a song that leaves an image in my head, “Red Dirt Road” is second to none. The meaning of the song is pretty straight forward, and it deals with a road in which he grew up on and has a great deal of memories. Brooks and Dunn claims:
It's where I drank my first beer
It's where I found Jesus
Where I wrecked my first car
I tore it all to pieces

Now, I want you to read the attached lyrics and then look at the collage and hopefully the image you create in your mind will parallel the one that comes to my mind from “Red Dirt Road.”

Red Dirt Road Lyrics at this Link http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brooksdunn/reddirtroad.html
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

1st Revision of Red Dirt Road- http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/294

Final Revision of Red Dirt Road- http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/296

Video Project:

The last assignment we were given in the portfolio assignment was a video project. I was immediately excited when I found out about the nature of the assignment. I do not have extensive knowledge about creating movies, but I have filmed and edited a few for classes in the past, so I was not a complete rookie. At the end of the day, I feel like my video actually turned out well.

Some of the difficulties I experienced when putting my video together included video editing, uploading the clips onto Youtube, and many other general questions about iMovie. I had to take a number of tutorials and read the help sections, but found just about all of my questions answered simply on the Internet. One thing this portfolio assignment has increased is my ability to find the answers to specific problems on my own without asking teachers and classmate right away. I have done a great deal of research about all of the technologies we have used in this class, and I feel like some of them could be beneficial down the line (other classes and perhaps career).

I decided to do my project on “O Brother Where Art Thou?” which is one of my favorite movies. I had to watch and write a paper about this film in high school, so I had some background knowledge. I could have taken so many different routes when I decided to take on this movie. The Coen Brothers always load their movies with deeper meanings than what is on the surface. After watching the movie again in class this semester, I realized that I wanted to do the project on some aspect of religion.

I went back through the movie again and read a great deal of articles, and I finally decided to do my project about how the Coen Brothers made “O Brother Where Art Thou?” a religious satire. There are a number of scenes where I found myself actually laughing at how ridiculous the Coens make some parts of religion look. There were a number of scenes I could have used, but didn’t due to time constraints (blind prophet, Devil, flood). Overall, I feel like I portray a strong argument, but you can decide for yourself after you watch it.

Link to Final Video Project- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SLf9_avUA

Conclusion
Overall, I feel like this assignment has stretched me to limits I did not think were possible. While at Carolina I did not think I was going to be able to take a class that was this fun and innovative. As a business major, I figured I would be taking my general Economics and Accounting classes, but not a class that involved creating movies, podcasts and playlists. I can honestly say that I do not necessarily feel tech savvy , but I definitely feel much more well of with computers than I did at the beginning of the semester. I feel extremely lucky to have gotten into this First Year seminar, and I believe that this is a valuable project that teaches you how to think critically about literature and use technological skills that will be useful as we move forward in the 21st century.

Comments
Comment about the music in "O Brother"http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/239
Comment about Image of Sarah Palin http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/208
Comment about Why So Serious Image http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/278
Comment on Maximus playlist http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/28
Coment on Wagon Wheel Image http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/205
Comment on "O Brother" Topics http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/224
Comment on No Country For Old Men http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/195
Reflection on my playlist http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/88
Comment on Blog entry http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/24
Comment on Greatest Poetic Song Ever http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/9
Blog Entry about Boys II men http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/22

Class Schedule