Alexia D Digital Story Treatment
From LIS5313
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[edit] Summary
Title: Cornbread, Turnip Greens and Wrestling
Image by kfisto used through Creative Commons attribution.
Description: My digital story is about my odd relationship with my grandmother. She is cranky, harsh and very irritating. Despite my dislike of her, I have some great memories of being with her and love her very much. This story is framed as a letter to my mother, who thinks I do not care about my grandmother at all. It is important to me that my mother knows that my relationship with my grandmother is the most unique relationship I've ever had and that makes it special to me.
[edit] Media Assets
The primary image I have chosen is cornbread in a cast iron skillet. This was my grandmother's signature dish and I did not really like it. I always thought my extended family was nuts for making a big deal about her cornbread when my mother's tasted so much better to me. The cornbread image comes from Flickr.
I will also use photos of other southern food to represent my grandmother's cooking; turnip greens, stuffing and blue crabs. I have found several good pictures on Flickr for these. The blue crab photos should be especially useful to illustrate my fear of my grandmother by briefly talking about boiling the crab alive in her tiny kitchen.
I would like to contrast this somewhat horrific image with pictures of Savannah, Georgia, where my grandmother grew up. Savannah is beautiful and tranquil with a long history.
From pretty pictures of Savannah I plan to transition to my grandmother's favorite past-time, watching professional wrestling. I am looking for video of a match that I can incorporate. So far, I only have a still image of a match. If I can not find video, maybe I can find some audio of a fight I can lay over the image.
[edit] Pacing, Rhythm, and Juxtaposition
The music is going to have to be edited to fit my undulating rhythm. I want to start with some sweet folk music but interrupt it with comical horror music and then the wrestling. I have one folk song chosen from ccMixter.
The Media section above highlights some of the juxtaposition that I will use to contrast the love for my grandmother with the fear and dislike that I felt for her most of my life.
[edit] Narration, Dialogue, and Text
I do not want to use narration in my digital story. Instead I will rely on the music and some text to convey my meaning.
This is a very rough draft of the language I will use:
My grandmother is a crass and intimidating woman. Not your typical sweet granny. When I think of her I think of... *quick image montage* turnip and collard greens... cornbread... macaroni and cheese... dry, dry cornbread. Don't you think its weird to tell someone "my grandmother loves professional wrestling." *wrestling video/audio* Every time I think of Savannah, I try to imagine her there. With the smell of gardenia in the air, young and beautiful... but all I ever knew of her was seven husbands later... with her pot belly and tiny legs... boiling blue crabs in her kitchen *psycho stabbing sound* ...
[edit] Reflection
At this time, I'm a little uncomfortable with my digital story. The idea feels really personal and difficult to explain. Please let me know if this all sounds too boring or if I am casting myself in a bad light. My feelings about this subject are very complicated and I think working on this video will help me sort it out. My grandmother is still alive but suffering from advanced Alzheimer's. I feel like I owe it to my mother to explain that I do care because I have been so detached while the illness has escalated.
Is there anything in my summary that touches a nerve with you? Is there something that I touched on that you would like to hear more about?
[edit] Draft Media
Final Draft
Digital Story drafts
- Rough Draft 1 I still have A LOT of work to do. This will give you a rough idea of where I am going with it.
Flickr Resources used through Creative Commons attribution:
- Cornbread photo for food montage
- Turnip Greens photo for food montage
- Savannah, GA #1
- Savannah, GA #2
- Blue Crabs #1
- Blue Crabs #2
- Gardenia photo to build Savannah imagery
- Wresting
Jamendo Music
- Do You Know Where Your Children Are? by No, Really, I like this rhythm and tone for my story. The lyrics may be a little distracting.
- Reflections by Rob Costlow, a melodic instrumental for my introduction
[edit] Copyrighted Materials
I do not plan to use any copyrighted materials.
