Final

Portfolio

COVER LETTER

When I first signed up for English 366 I was extremely nervous because I am not an English major; however, I was also very excited because I knew that the class was going to push me outside my normal comfort zone of written essays and discussing poetry and novels. We began class discussing the topic of where English was heading and what it meant to be literary. So far, this class has proven that literary is not just confined to typical written material. It can be found in music, pictures, and other mediums.

Three of my projects focused on young people and emotions. I think youth is a powerful medium for emotional uncertainty and anxiety, everything is heightened than when you're an adult, at least for most. My playlist was about a young girl who struggles with her identity and also has to deal with deciding whether or not to save her sister. My playlist was about an up-and-coming artist, Adele, who at age 19 wrote her first album about the heartbreak she felt after her first love. My collage is also about emotions, based on the book 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult. One of the characters shoots up his high school after being bullied his entire life, yet Picoult challenges you as a reader to look outside how you think you should feel, and remains un-biased herself.

My last project focused on a deep emotion also. I made a video about the love between a man and a woman, a husband and wife, by refocusing the film No Country for Old Men on the relationship between Llewelyn and Carla Jean. In addition, we did two extra projects: favorite photographer, and an assignment about reworking the english curriculum. These extra projects helped keep us focused on the question, what is english? The assignment in which we had to make changes to the curriculum was challenging because we had to work with a group, but it also really made us think about what we thought was important to get out of an english major and english department, and why. The favorite photographer assignment provided another medium in which to find a "story" and yet another example of a different medium being literary because just like writers, photographers also try to tell a story with their work.

I really liked that this class allowed me to deeper analyze works that I already really loved in untraditional manners. My thinking about what songs would best reflect how Anna Morland felt while she was struggling through life changing decisions, I was able to more closely relate to the character and was forced to consider her feelings and motivations behind her actions, even further than what was presented in the book. The podcast about Adele also made be think about her in a way I wouldn't have normally. Usually when I listen to music I just turn on something that I like and let it play. I don't really focus on what the songs or saying or why the artist wrote them. Through the podcast I really found that I loved not only how Adele sounded, but also what she was saying. In addition, while I was trying to find interviews for the podcast, I found out more about Adele's personality and how strong she is. The video similarly challenged me in the same way. I tried to find a new angle to look at the movie; thus, I chose to look at Carla Jean and what she meant to Llewelyn, and therefore how she changed the story.
The collage didn't make me think more about the character necessarily, but rather about images that reflect him and his story. I was forced to think more abstractly because I was putting together seemingly unrelated images in the hopes that people would see the collage and get a sense of what the character is like.

When working on all of these projects we were constantly challenged to look at how they challenged the idea of what was literary. During this class I came to realize that a picture, a podcast, a playlist, or a video can all be just as literary as a novel or essay. In fact, in some ways I think they can be even more so because they challenge you to think outside the box, which I think is more creative and more literary than any essay or novel, unless they also challenge themselves to go somewhere no one else has gone, or to take something old and make it new and refreshing. This class forced us to do that, and therefore it has definately been one of my favorite english classes so far.
As you go through this portfolio, the images in the sections for the playlist, podcast, and video are links that will take you to those actual projects.

PLAYLIST

Our first project was to create a playlist about one of our favorite characters from a book, movie, or television show. I chose Anna from Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. The most difficult thing about this project was becoming familiar with all of the html formatting that was needed to adequately combine the different elements of the playlist. However, once I used them a few times, they became more familiar. This project was probably the easiest of the four projects simply because it was the most like a traditional essay. Although it contained music and pictures, its central theme was character analysis, something at which almost all high school students become proficient. However, it was difficult at times to remember to analyze not only the character, but also the song and/or image that was being used. I found myself at times simply looking at the character instead of looking through the song to see her and really describing in detail why I chose that particular song. Thus, when I went back to fix my playlist that was what I focused on. Some of my analysis needed to be flushed out for some of the songs. I went back and fixed that to make the playlist flow a little bit better. This project should definately be considered literary because it was very similar to a regular character analysis essay. However, it made an even more cohesive argument because you were forced to find songs and images that backed up how you viewed the character. Thus, it made you look even deeper at the character and how you viewed them, which is an important aspect of analyzing anything literary.

PODCAST

Our next project was a podcast about a musician, song, or musical theme. I chose to look at three songs by Adele to analyze different genres in the music industry and how she doesn't neatly fit into any of them. This project was much more difficult in technicality. It was extremely difficult to record my voice the way I wanted. It came in much more silent than I wanted, despite being right at my computer's microphone. This can be compared to the difficulty one might face when trying to get down everything one thinks about when writing an essay, but not being able to get the words exactly right. However, it was also more difficult because I didn't have as much control over it - technology often has a mind of its own. One thing I think turned out well with my podcast was the continuation and flow of the music throughout the podcast's entirety. Rarely is there talking without any music in the background. I made sure to have it quiet enough to be contributative and not distracting - just like additional material, like quotes, in an essay. I think the podcast allowed a little more creative license than a traditional essay. If what I said was just written down, it wouldn't be nearly as impactful as it is with the music right there to support it. When I revised my podcast I planned on mainly going back and trying to re-record some of my voice recordings and adding more analysis about the theme of Adele breaking genres and what that means for the industry. However, my original podcast that was supposed to be saved on my computer was lost somehow. All of the files that contained my sound clips were just. Therefore, instead of having a new podcast for you to listen to, I will just have to tell you what I was planning on doing. My intent was to try and fix minor details that were wrong with it technically first. Then I was going to insert more analysis of each song in regards to the importance of genres in the music industry. My original podcast only mentions genres in the beginning and then discusses it more at the end, but does not reference it specifically in the middle, so I was going to add some in order to better maintain continuity and the flow of the podcast. Such a problem like this would not occur when writing a paper because it does not deal with sound clips and audacity files. This may be why some people don't consider such mediums as literary. Because the technology is so new and different, they think it is completely unrelated to writing a noverl or essay. Yet, the process was the same. I had to gather information before I began, organize my ideas behind a coherent thesis and then explain and support that thesis. The only difference was, in fact, what also makes the podcast more creative - the ability to incorporate the actual music and interviews with your own words. It may be harder to compile these together at first, but the end result is worth it. Ultimately, despite the obstacles I faced with this project I was glad to have the chance to use something new and different to express myself. This podcast explains what I went through and thought about each project. Under the sections for the playlist, podcast, and video click on the images to be taken to the project.

COLLAGE

Collage 1	Collage 2

A collage was the third assignment. I really enjoyed working on the collage because it was a nice change in mediums after the podcast. I've always enjoyed working with pictures and was excited to have the opportunity to do so. I started with a painting showing a figure looking downtrodden and melancholy as the background. The painting is entirely blues and greys, which reflect the sadness and ambiguity seen throughout the book. Picoult once said "The world is not black and white, but many, many shades of grey." I then found a picture of a boy (about the age of the character) screaming. I thought this illustrated the character's frustration at the people who don't understand him and have treated him badly his entire life. I also found a gavel to represent truth and justice, and a clock to represent 19 minutes, the title of the book and the amount of time the shooting took. I added a picture of shattered glass over all of these pictures, and then a hand holding a gun as the focal point. I later condescened the picture slightly because there was a lot of dead space. I also added red around the gun barrel to attract the eye. In the second version of my collage, I increased the opacity of the screaming boy and added red around the shattered window. I thought this added more drama to the collage, and although it might detract slightly from the gun, I think this is okay because I wanted to emphasize not only the disaster of the shootings, but also the tragedy and turmoil that caused those shootings. Possibly more important than the actual event was the emotional havoc that was wreaked before and after it. I think this collage illustrates this much more clearly. The red seems to come from the boy and shoot out toward the gun, rather than the gun being the sole eye-catching feature in the collage.
This collage was probably the project that people could argue is one of the least literary because it is more abstract. However, I would disagree because I think it makes you think about a novel or character and then try to find images that convey not only that character, but also how you see that character and what you chose to depict him/her with. This allows for the onlooker to get a feeling for what you saw, and also allows for their own interpretation of the images and the character. When all you have is an essay to read, it's much more cut and dry. You see how the writer feels and thinks, but you are not allowed much interpretive room yourself.

VIDEO

Our last assignment was to create a video. We could use clips from No Country for Old Men, which we watched in class, or we could use clips from another movie of our choice. I chose to "rewrite" No Country for Old Men by focusing my video on the love story between Llewelyn and Carla Jean. I thought it was an interesting element to the story that isn't really ever examined. Most people focus on Llewelyn, Chigger, or Sheriff Bell, but Carla Jean is usually just some side casualty and not ever given her own part in the story. However, I believe that Carla Jean is who starts the story line. Llewelyn takes the money in order to better provide for her. He doesn't want her to have to work at Wal-Mart for the rest of her life. Thus, I chose clips from the film that focused on the interactions between the Llewelyn and Carla Jean for the beginning of the my video. I also chose a song by Everclear called "I Will Buy You a New Life" as the soundtrack for the video. The song just epitomized the desire of a man to provide a better life for someone he loves. Halfway through the video the soundtrack fades and there are faster clips with sounds of different scenes involving the violence and tragedy that results from Llewelyn taking the money. I think it was important to include the sounds for those clips because it emphasized the sharp contrast between reality and what Llewelyn envisioned when he took the money. Instead of getting a big house and not having to work, they both ended up fighting for their lives...and losing.
This video was harder to make than I thought it would be because I originally planned on doing a mash-up with the same theme - more light-hearted and funny, but I couldn't find a good trailer for another movie that would fit with clips from No Country for Old Men. It was like when you're writing an essay and start out with one thesis in mind, but as you write the paper the thesis statement completely changes. Similarly, my video changed although it kept the main idea, the spin on that idea totally changed. Instead of making a dark movie light, I just chose to highlight a different part of that story. I wanted to bring a background character to light and maybe make someone think differently about Carla Jean and Llewelyn. I don't think Llewelyn was selfish, and not really stupid either. I think he was thinking of his wife, and finally being able to provide for her. He wanted to get her out of the trailer park.
After the video was complete, I encountered several technical issues. The transitions kept doing weird things with the clips, so I removed them and then tried putting them back in and they seemed to be fine. Then when I exported the video to Quicktime the sound was several seconds ahead of the picture. I then tried exporting it to Windows Movie Player instead and it worked better, although the video is slightly jumpy. These difficulties can be compared to any other issue on may encounter when writing a paper or doing anything else. There is always the possibility of things going wrong that are out of control, and you just have to do the best you can with what you have. Overall I think my video turned out well and provides the intended effect of turning the movie into a love story gone terribly wrong.

BLOG POSTINGS and EXTRA ASSIGNMENTS

Throughout the semester, we have posted comments about different topics and comments on other people's postings. Here are the blog postings I have made so far this semester:

blog 1
blog 2
blog 3
blog 4
blog 5
blog 6
blog 7
blog 8
blog 9
blog 10
blog 11
blog 12
blog 13
Favorite Photographer Assignment
What Should We Study?

I think a lot of my postings could have been more constructive in my commentary. Instead of just praising what I liked, I should have also commented more on what I thought could help to improve. I tried to do this more later on, and I think you can tell the differences between my playlist comments and my podcast and collage comments. There's also several other assignments that we posted about such as saving english, our favorite photographer, and discussions about our readings.
The Favorite Photographer Assigment was a little difficult because I honestly didn't have a favorite photographer. I searched around the internet looking at different photographers until I found someone I liked, Bruce Mozert. His juxtaposition of real life images underwater were very eye-catching and entertaining. If I'm going to get a picture, it's because it is funny or interesting to me. Although I appreciate serious images, I don't really want to look at them all day. Furthermore, these images provide that entertaining twist while commenting on society.
The question What Should We Study? was a difficult one to answer, compounded by the fact that it was a group project. We all had different ideas and different images of what the curriculum should be. However, I think that was good because it simulated the discussions that they must go through in reality when trying to figure out the same thing. Ultimately we decided that the curriculum should change slightly by focusing on more current issues and modern texts, rather than emphasizing solely classic and older works, although we didn't want those to be lost entirely either.