Ana L Digital Story Treatment
From LIS5313
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[edit] Summary
Title: Through the Eyes of a Grateful Mother
Description: This is the story of my son Patrick from my perspective. After witnessing what he had to go through as a premature baby, seeing him grow from a toddler to a young child trying to cope with ADHD, and now as an adolescent, I look back and wonder how he was able to overcome a lot of difficulties. We were told by the neuro-surgeon when Patrick was 3 months old that he needed a VP shunt because he was hydrocephalic. Either that or his brain would be damaged and he wouldn’t survive. But the operation had its risks and may result in Patrick becoming learning disabled, physically and/or mentally impaired. Even though the future had a lot of uncertainties, I did not succumb to despair. In my heart somehow, I never gave up. How grateful I am to see how he is right now in spite of everything. I will be sharing this digital story with the spiritual organization that we are members of. Although a lot of the members were aware of what happened to my son, I have not come forward to share it formally with the group. I just get so emotional thinking about what he went through. I think doing the digital story on this will allow me to tell his story (without crying). So I am planning to show this digital story at a monthly gathering as my way of saying ‘‘thank you” that I believe this is long overdue.
[edit] Media Assets
I am planning to use our photographs of Patrick taken at different stages. I am hoping that the baby pictures will explain the situation we were facing. I included pictures taken from a toddler to middle school, as Patrick did not change overnight. He grew very slowly especially in the first ten years. It was so slow I would never have predicted that he would be how he is now. He was always thin and one of the smallest kids in the whole grade level. By showing the pictures in chronological sequence, I hope I can show this. I will also be using two pictures from Flickr both in the public domain. One of the photos symbolizes prayer while the other serves as a background of a frame with text. Throughout the video, there will be some narration in order to put the pictures into a proper context and make them more meaningful. Music will also be used to provide the ambiance. I was thinking of using two audio clips from ccMixter but I think one will suffice as the clip starts out with a slower tempo and ends up with a faster and livelier one. The faster tempo would add to the feeling that some positive progress is occurring. I will try to put a video clip at the end showing how Patrick is today. It would be nice if I could embed a picture when he was little as the comparison will be more dramatic and would be able to show why I am grateful.
For the final draft, I used another audio clip from ccMixter in order to change the tempo. I thought that the original clip I was using would still be good for the ending of the story. However, the tempo didn't change much and so I had to use a different one. Ana L 00:04, 26 March 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Pacing, Rhythm, and Juxtaposition
The pictures will be arranged in chronological order to show primarily the physical development occurring through the years. At the beginning, the pacing of the photos in the special care nursery will be relatively slower. This is to give the viewer a chance to understand the circumstances at the beginning of the story. The rest of the photos in the video will be at a faster pace to give the feeling that things are progressing and in a positive way. The tempo of the music is slow at the beginning to match the baby pictures. It becomes a little bit faster and livelier which would reinforce the message shown by the succeeding pictures. The video clip at the end (if I can add it) will be a confirmation that Patrick is doing fine today.
For the final draft, I was not able to keep the chronological sequence as I had originally planned. Two pictures had to be placed towards the end of the story because of the changes I made to the narration. Ana L 00:08, 26 March 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Narration, Dialogue, and Text
I will be using narration and text in the digital story. Narration will be used throughout the story to explain relevant facts not so obvious in the pictures. It helps establish the connection of one photograph to another. Text is used to identify the factors that I feel were important in allowing Patrick to overcome his difficulties and develop like any normal child. After the pictures of his first seven years, the factors are shown again but this time with the use of photographs. By showing them first in text, I hope the viewer will be able to identify them later on when shown in a different format (pictures). I picked a photo from Flickr to use as a background to make the text more meaningful.
Narration:
Born at 7½ months, 2 lbs. 12 ounces, covered with hair, Patrick was not a pretty sight but he was alive. He spent 3½ months in the Neonatal ICU, growing slowly, showing his personality. After surviving yeast infection in the brain, an operation to implant a VP shunt and a 2nd one to revise it 4 days later, it was finally his turn to go home. With a lot of love, prayers and God’s Light, the little baby finally went home. And the little baby grew into a little boy, thin, small but very active. With a lot of love, prayers, and God’s Light, the little boy grew, year after year, showing no sign of physical impairment, speech problem, or learning disability as we have been forewarned. The little boy is now a teenager. With a lot of love, prayers and God’s Light, Patrick can face a brighter future.
For the final draft, I had to modify the narration to make it shorter. I realized from the feedbacks that I should let the pictures tell the story. I modified the narration to include some facts that will not be obvious by looking at the pictures alone. I also added a few frames with text to convey the thoughts or concerns I had. I have to re-convert the final draft after I get a copy of the software I purchased from Cucusoft so that Trial Version no longer appears on the frames and the text can be read. The new frames with text are:
- Will he be okay?
- The doctor informed us that he could have a physical handicap,
- a speech problem,
- or a learning disability
Narration - Final Draft
At 7½ months, 2 lbs. 12 ounces, 12 inches long, Patrick was one of the smallest babies born at the hospital. He spent 3½ months in the Neonatal ICU. He made quite an impression on the hospital staff. After surviving yeast infection in the brain, an operation to implant a VP shunt and a 2nd one to revise it 4 days later, it was finally his turn to go home. The little baby finally went home. Patrick was underweight, way below the average height but for a little guy, he had so much energy. With a lot of love, prayers and God’s Light, Patrick is now a teenager and can look forward to a brighter future. Ana L 00:30, 26 March 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Reflection
I have ideas of what I want to do. The problem is getting to know the equipment and the software to determine if what I am thinking of doing can be done and if so, how to do it. I attempted to scan the pictures with the HP scanner we have at home. When I try to scan a picture, somehow the file type changes from .jpeg to Corel Photo Album. I don’t know if this will work as I stopped scanning to work on something else. With the video software, I tried to experiment on zooming in on a picture and all it did was make it bigger. However, it made the rest of the pictures bigger. Trying to figure out the equipment and/or software is essential but it takes time to do this. Unfortunately, there is no resource person at home or at work that I can ask. But I will keep working at it and hopefully will find out how to do what I want before the deadline.
[edit] Draft Media
Here's the link to my digital story. This is a trial version of a converter that my husband found that was able to successfully convert my .avi file to .mp4. That's why you see Trial Version across the pictures. If you get a prompt to associate some files to Quicktime, please click the Yes button.
[edit] Final Draft
Here's the link to the final draft of my digital story. I purchased the converter from Cucusoft and will replace the file without the Trial Version banner across the pictures. If you get a prompt to associate some files to Quicktime, please click the Yes button.
[edit] Copyrighted Materials
I will be using only two photos from Flickr and they are both in the public domain. The rest of the photos are mine. The music I will use is from ccMixter and has an attribution, noncommercial license. So I won’t be using any material that is copyrighted.
For the final draft, I also used another music from ccMixter and this one has an attribution 3.0 license.
