Final Project

Reflection:

I enrolled in the course the last possible day and had to quickly invent a topic for my project. The date I had a few weeks prior in NYC was still fresh on my mind and I figured it would be a fun story for me to reflect on. I quickly recorded my audio track in Audacity and that first version and script remained untouched throughout the entire process. I was confident in the audio story but I did struggle with the visual aspect. Around late January, the person I went on the date with came out to Pittsburgh for work and we spent a good amount of time together. We decided that I would book a trip to visit him back in New York. After spending the weekend reconnecting I made up my mind that I was going to personally shoot the entire footage necessary to recreate the original date when I went to visit him the weekend before spring break.

Late February came around and we were still talking daily and the trip to NYC was finalized. It wasn’t until the days leading up to my departure that we lost communication and he stopped responding to my texts. Long story short, I ended up not going and somewhat falling out of interest with my project and completely neglecting it over spring break.

Eventually I came up with idea to use vintage films to contrast the modern theme of the audio story. The first clip I found was the time-lapse of midtown Manhattan with a catching audio that I used as both the intro and the outro. I ended up coming across a few puberty and dating films that were shown in physical education courses back in the ‘50s and ‘60s which contrasted with both the modern style of dating and homosexuality that was present in my audio. Originally, I had multiple story lines in the visual aspect of the project, which I eventually replaced with a consistent, singular teenage couple at a carnival. Seeing as I had to make cuts and edits between the couple’s date, I found other vintage films that followed certain aspects of my audio story (such as the “pornstache” man rubbing his oiled body or the sensual burlesque dancer). I knew I wanted to incorporate a clips I personally shot so I had my friend dress up in her black dress and heels and walk across my kitchen holding a liquor tray, which I later edited using filters and overlays to maintain the vintage aspect in the visual project. I then went back to the other found footage of the man and burlesque dancer and tweaked their settings to keep the visuals uniform. The final task was perfecting the transitions and creating timed text for the title and credits.

Philosophy of storytelling:

Storytelling is used across different forms of medium. Stories have the ability to be both time and space-binding forms of media. Whether a story is written for a local newspaper or on a tomb discovered thousands of years after the fact, they both serve to inform the audience. Stories host themes, which the audience is responsible for identifying through investigation of the text/ story. The storyteller has multiple forms of media to express their theme, some examples being pen on paper, typing a blog, creating a video, and dancing. It’s up to the teller to create a story that will interest an audience and take them away from reality for however long necessary to understand and interpret the themes involved. In order to create the best story, the teller has to have some investment or interest in the topic. Storytelling is supposed to make the audience think and create ideas. The control of the story begins when the author creates their interpretation but then control shifts to the audience, who now has the responsibility of interpreting a meaning. Engaging in storytelling and creating a meaning allows the audience a distraction from their normal daily tasks. It grants them the freedom to use their mind to connect factors and themes within the story to create an overall meaning.

The strength of the story trumps the length; if you’re story is consistently compelling, the length is not a huge factor. Good storytelling will take the audience to a new place of thought and creativity—successfully distracting them and making them think.

Storytelling is also just as therapeutic for the teller for all the same reasons. It gives them the chance to use creativity (regardless of medium) and incorporating themes that are important to them and their beliefs. It is their chance to express themselves and use their reality and ideology to create a channel that will make their audience formulate their own thoughts and story.