Anth 397 Media, Persons, Publics

Midterm plan/storyboard for multimodal final project.

Due:

  • Friday, Mar 24, 8 pm (except for seniors!), upload to Personal Moodle Blog,
  • Comment Partner comments due Sunday Mar 26, 8 pm
  • Senior deadline: Friday Mar 31, 8 pm

Length/format: 5-7 pages of text (if a Word doc, double-spaced, which could consist of an introduction and a draft script), or a Storyboard sketch with 3-page text.

Evaluation: I will evaluate the midterm plans based on the following criteria (listed in order of priority)

  1. The extent to which you draw on readings from the course to craft a coherent vision for your project (is there a clear theme or driving problematic? a credible argument or question/issue for exploration about media and mediation? a specific public or audience? a compelling combination or integration of media forms?);
  2. The creativity of your arguments and ideas for integrating media forms and reaching an audience;
  3. The accuracy of your claims about media theories and/or histories;
  4. The specificity and coherence of your plan (is it feasible? is it focused?).

Recall that the main prompt for the final multimodal project was that it should draw on readings from the course to investigate and illuminate or illustrate some aspect of people or publics' relationship to media/mediation in a particular context (including or exclusively your own media engagements if you so choose). The midterm plan is your chance to think through the larger vision of the project. This is where you should give some serious thought to the specific goals and audiences of your piece. Ask yourself: how will I render these questions/ issues/arguments in other media forms? visually? orally? How will I juxtapose media forms? What will those juxtapositions imply or connote? What should the finished product look like? And crucially: How will I keep this a feasible, short project?

To do that, return to the brainstorming prompts in the final project guidelines, and consider again which course readings might spark your thinking on these issues: Which inspire you? Which would you argue with/debate? Are there any you want to explicitly appear in the final project? or others that will remain in the background?

Then consider Tony Moreno's guidelines for Preproduction below and online. His guidelines provide brainstorming tips and sample storyboard formats.

Your midterm plan could thus be in multiple forms. It could be just a text (Word Doc), or text with inserted images or videos, which could be an introductory text plus a draft script. It could also be a storyboard with accompanying or integrated text.

Preproduction: Developing a Multimedia Project

Various steps can be involved, including:

  • Brainstorm. Come up with various ideas, no matter how ridiculous.
  • Research.
  • Find the story (or stories).
  • Do you want the viewer to do anything or feel an emotion after watching the video?
  • Storyboard.
  • Write the first draft of the script.
  • Identify possible video shots or images to use in your project.

Here’s a few of these steps, as well as some of useful links.