LaToya D Digital Story Treatment

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[edit] Summary

Title: Imagine

Image: Mary Vinson Memorial Library

Description: Upon learning that our City and County government have not mutually agreed upon the terms of their Service Delivery Agreement which in part assigns library funding to one of the entities, this, our 70th year in existence, appears to be of even more significance considering the potential crippling changes that will occur. In light of the news that our System's budget could be cut by 20% which would then mean we would lose all of our state funding and a myriad of other disappointing realities, I wrote a poem that documents my feelings the day the news broke and what it could mean for our community as library services, resources, and jobs vanish.

Editing Programs Used: iPhoto & iMovie | Other Programs Used: QuickTime | Computer & Operating System: MacBook Pro, OS X Leopard

[edit] Media Assets

The images used for the Story are ones that I personally took using my digital camera, images that we have on hand at the library that we have used internally or have archived, and two photos obtained from Flickr. The images, some literal to the audio track, reflect the words and meaning of the poem. Manipulation of the images were minimal as I used iMovie's panning effects to take care of any cropping that I wanted to do. Using Audacity, I laid the primary vocal track (although after the fact I realized that I could have skipped that step and recorded it directly in iMovie) which is my own voice reading the poem. I also used background music, obtained from CCMixter, that is somber in tone in order to further convey the sadness of the subject matter.

[edit] Pacing, Rhythm, and Juxtaposition

I believe, as is my hope, that the voice track was able to convey a mood of longing, loss, and disappointment at the thought of the library having to possibly close its doors. Although on first glance the manner of prose and the content would be directed or appeal more to an adult, a young person should be able to understand its meaning. My initial draft did not use any transition effects for the slides but in the end I inserted a few in order to slow down the seemingly face moving pace of the photos. All the images were intentionally not altered so that the sprinkling of 'old' photos were obvious and the black and white effect on the repeated drawing of the library at the end of the Story is deliberate.In so doing it is my hope that the final compilation compliments rather than takes away from the words or even the mood of the music. Similar to the Media Exercise 7 Basic Video Editing assignment, I rely heavily on the music to drive the mood, despite it not being the obvious driving force of the Story. While the individual pieces/components of the Story can stand alone, it is my hope that in the joining of the spoken word, background music, effects, and images, it will tug at the heartstrings through its pacing; a poignant story to the viewer. Save the library!

[edit] Narration, Dialogue, and Text

[edit] Imagine

A poem by LaToya Davidson

Imagine our library with no new books on its shelves,
All because of political cards that are dealt.
Computers and access, a luxury no more,
No more children anxiously waiting at our doors.

Imagine if the informational center was to disappear,
Where would one go when questions are near?
When 'show me the money' is our dire plead,
But no one is there to answer our need.

Imagine a time when our doors would be closed,
Only to open with far less in store.
Less staff, less resources, less programs that reach,
Who will be left, who can we teach?

Imagine a library with five feeble hands,
The rest of the cadre cut by the plans.
When today and tomorrow is all but a dream,
When our best is the past and the future is bleak.

Imagine a place, suppressing its being,
Imagine a place that is struggling for meaning.
Imagine a place where the library is gone,
Our cultural pulse now quieted down.

Imagination is needed with seventy years in our past,
Seventy-one now uncertain, what is our chance?
A library is more than the books on its shelves,
A library is home, a sense of being, a place of wealth.

Note: The poem is the narration/dialogue for the Story. Although the primary narrative is around 200 words, the video is less than the 2 minute maximum and cutting any of the poem would have taken away from the effect and flow of the piece.

[edit] Reflection

For starters, hindsight being 20/20 I would certainly recommend (for Mac users) simply using iMovie for the entire process of creating the Digital Story. It eliminates the need to import and crop photos in an alternate program (i.e. iPhoto) although taking that extra step can be helpful when searching one location for photos. You can also record audio tracks, import tracks, and do basic editing/manipulation of the tracks within iMovie which makes Audacity or similar programs unnecessary. iMovie is essentially an all in one package which was great!

I'm not completely sure the Story turned out the way that I wanted it to but I think that we all second guess ourselves. However, I think that it ultimately came together as I can see how I could have overdone it or become overwhelmed by putting more photos in a reworking the transitions and pacing. The concept of my video is simple and I think what makes it compelling is the sound of my voice as I read/recite the poem with the background music softly playing as well as the visual array of pictures that relates to the context of the poem and its ultimate message. I'm glad that I captured that moment in our library history and even happier to report that our library funding for the next five years have been secured.

[edit] Draft Media

Draft Video: Imagine Rough Draft
Final Video: Imagine Final Submission

Media Assets (Images)

Media Assets (Music)

[edit] Copyrighted Materials

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