For this week's primary hands-on assignment, you should write a first draft of a script on the popular culture topic you will be using as the basis for your final semester digital story project. You should email your script to Dr. Robin at: brobin@uh.edu
Also, please post a comment here in which you describe the popular culture topic you chose and briefly discuss why you selected it.
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I'm working on the theme project 'Advertising' for the CUIN 7336 class, which is rather interesting to me. Among the sub-theme of advertising, I would like to focus on the effects of advertising on young children.
Noticing the influences of advertisements on young kids my daughter's age, I want to condider how advertisers have made use of media and pop-culture icons like Mickey Mouse or Cinderella to affect on young minds. In the limited time of 5 minutes, my photo story is going to be a brief answer to the questions 'What effects?' so the script is just a short piece of writing starting with my observation of my little daughter responses to the advertisements in the world around her, and leading to my generalization of these effects on other kids as pop culture influences.
I hope these idea will not be very difficult to represent in images.
I am going to focus on cell phones as my pop culture topic.
I just recently renewed my family's contract for cell phones and updated each family member's phone. In doing so, I sat down with each family member individually to discuss what features were most important for that person. I then looked at the phones available, what was affordable, what features each had--you get the idea.
After I did my research and let each person know what choices he/she had within the family plan, I also had to consider what features to add to the plan itself. Which of my children (late teens) can't live without text-messaging a couple of thousand times a month, which one insists on surfing the net daily on the cell, and so forth.
Was it better to add a feature to one phone, or was it better to pay a little more and add it to everyone's phone? I added the features that were reasonable and designed to meet the needs of the individual members of the family.
Then, there was the question of downloading ring tones. What was I willing to pay, and what were my dependent children going to be responsible for?
Cell Phones have so many uses today, and there is even a development of subcultures because of the desire to individualize them with stickers, colors, casings, ring tones for callers and ring tones for receivers.
I chose this topic because I think the use of cell phones and the desire to individualize them has become a major focus in our society.
I am going to take this opportunity to do a digital story about my obsession with games :) If is turns out anywhere near decent then I think I will drop it on YouTube and use it on my website as well :)
I am going to take the opportunity to do some more photo manipulations to include in the digital story and see what I can manage. I have to say I am finding the first draft of the script a bit of a challenge. I wrote the first half late at night (actually early in the morning) and really liked that - but it seems I have lost the Zen when it comes to the second half :) I am just off to kick it around some more and see where I end up.
For my Pop Culture class, I am working on the subject of Sport and Pop Culture with a sub theme of Performance enhancement drugs. I would like to create a message that is not preaching that Performance enhancement is bad but to provide information on the topic so that students can make decisions on their own as to whether the lure and risks of using performance enhancement drugs are worth it.
My digital story will have to combine photos and a non-judgemental script to get students to think about the type of choice they would make on the issue of Sports and the use of performance enhancement drugs. I know there is so much information and pictures out there on the net about this topic and to try to put in all together in a 5 minute story will be tough and I hope to do it justice.
The lure of endorsements, multi-million dollar contracts, fame, wealth, and public adoration versus integrity, honor, self respect and dignity have always been in a battle between what is good and what is wrong. Sport athletes are no different.
As a country that loves its winners what have we done to our children with the winner take all type of mentality?
I, like Anh, am also focusing on Advertising.
I chose this topic for purely oportunistic reasons, as I was already creating an advertising photo story for our Pop Culture presentations.
My script, as of today, seems to be steering in the direction of issues of media literacy...
I'm focusing on heroes. What characteristics make someone a hero, where have all the heroes gone, etc... Using my own personal love and obsession with comic books and hero themed movies, I was inspired to question why we turn to fictitious heroes to admire. Is it because our society lacks people with heroic qualities today? What about our youth...where have all the Larry Birds and Michael Jordans gone? Instead our youth is stuck with Barry Bonds and Michael Vick. I'll also go into the fact that everyday people (teachers, police officers, etc...) are not regarded as the heroes that they once were. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but regardless I find the topic interesting and I think it will be something good to show my students in class.
I should have added in my original posting that I am also looking at the uses, conveniences, social inconveniences, and hazards of using cell phones, in addition to possibly emerging technologies tied into cell phone use.
My pop culture topic is food. I decided to focus on food waste and food litter. Today food is of the highest quality and most convenient it has ever been in human history. We should be proud of this accomplishment. Unfortunately, we rarely think about what happens to discarded food and the costs of convenience. Luckily, we live in a country that values cleanliness. We have also created a system to preserve the environment. Yet, for some reason many of us fail to participate in the system and are apathetic about the waste we produce. The hope for my PhotoStory is to recount some of my own experiences with food waste and litter, explore the reasons why food might be wasted and why people litter, and challenge the audience to be more conscious of their actions.
My popular culture topic is advertising. I am currently trying to decide between two topics: Heinz and Advertising – Famous for his Chicago World Fair giveaway in 1893. Heinz’s story is an interesting one – and he was a forerunner of modern advertising. His name has become a household name and it is all due to his unique advertising and marketing ideas.
The other topic I am debating is Advertising in World War II. For this topic, I would evaluate the impact of the government’s role in encouraging the public to participate in helping through the war effort – whether thru rationing, conservation, working, and buying war bonds. I like this topic, because I know I could use it in my classroom.
I will try to make up my mind this week.
Becca--Those are both very good ideas. I have a lot of resources if you do the WWII story, although I'm really interested in the Heinz story.
I too have decided to eschew my assigned topic for my photostory. Instead, I am recounting an event set against the backdrop of sports that I would define as my "coming of age" experience.
I am having trouble making my story resonably concise rather than telling the WHOLE story.
My pop culture topic for Dr. White's class is fashion. My intention is to use this photostory for both classes. Because I have to talk about fashion, I decided to focus my project on one aspect of fashion...and that is hair. I did a little research and included some interesting findings in my script. However, I missed last week's class due to bad weather, so when I wrote my first script, I didn't consider making it personal. Obviously, my script needs some work. My first draft was mostly to inform the viewer of different aspects of hair, but I didn't include myself in it. This means that I might have to change it drasticly, but at least I have an idea of what I'mm going to do and I'm sure I can take bits of my first draft and tranfer them to my second.
Keyana Jackson
I am also working on the theme project "Fashion". At the beginning I found it difficult to choose a sub- theme, but after alot of thinking and research I have settled on Hip Hop Fashion. My photostory will provide an overview of the history of Hip Hop fashion from the late 1980s-Present. This topic is very interesting to me because Hip Hop is all around me. I think it is especially interesting to delve into Hip Hop fashion as a major pop culture influence.
My popular culture theme is Film and Movies from Dr. White’s class. Since there is no easy way to incorporate motion DVD clips into Photostory or MovieMaker, I have chosen to focus on the actors and actresses of Hollywood (that’s still Film and Movies, right?). They will be my characters in my Digital Media Lesson. For what I have in mind right now, I’m thinking of
1. “Googling” the various actors for their images.
2. “Photoshoping” their images into scenes that fit my storyline and lesson.
3. Getting popular music to go with the setting of the story.
4. My lesson/story has something to do with math.
Danna – we kinda went over my first draft in class so I’ll be emailing the “second” draft to Dr. Robin this week. Thanks for your input!
Sophia--I think you are on the right track. We'll go over the final drafts of the stories Monday.
I had been having a real hard time trying to find a topic that I would really enjoy building a digital story for. I was trying to incorporate Cam's class into it as well. Since our topic was movies/film and we chose to work with National Treasure, I figure I could something on symbols.
I too am having a difficult time choosing a popular culture topic that I can personalize...my topic for Cam's class is magazines, but I'm not sure it is something I want to focus on.
One idea I have is to focus on traveling, more specifically Guatemala. I'm not sure yet. any ideas are welcomed!
I will be working with Roberto Rodiguez a musician for my final product. I want to do a brief interview of his experience with music as well as informing over each genre. However I want to focus more on Conjunto music since this is his expertise and many poeple know little about it.
My topic is steroids in sports. My group is focusing on this particular aspect of sports, so I wanted to look at some of the different aspects of steroids and their influence on sports.
I am trying to cover a short time line of steroids and how they have impacted society. The basics of steroid use and its side effects are presented, then I move into the role it has played in athletic events with athletes and 'the edge' they are always looking for as they prepare for competition, and I conclude with the kind of influences it can have on an athlete's career as a result of using steroids.
It has been really interesting and scary learning how quickly steroids have evolved over the years, and it is more tragic that athletes are still willing to use them despite what they know about them.
this script is only the beginning and it took me a really long time to get it perfect. I know it is the first draft and I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. I still have a long way to go as far as the actual meat of the story, but I will continue to update and edit.
It was Tuesday, April 29, 1975. U.S, soldiers began evacuating Tan Son Nhut airbase in Vietnam after President Ford announced the retreat. As North Vietcong soldiers inched their way closer and closer to the city, thousands of panicked U.S., Vietnamese, and third-country citizens began rushing for helicopters to flee the country. Unfortunately, my family was not one of the lucky ones. They managed to escape to a refugee camp in the Philippines where they stayed for almost a year. It was not until 1976 that they were able to come to the United States thanks to a small church in Friendswood, Texas that raised enough money for my grandfather and his family to come to America. This is a story about their growth and legacy; a legacy that is still continuing to thrive.
The subject of our group is literature. I would say that the theme of our group project is both spiritual and practical. It came from Judy's idea and we all agreed on it.
We will focus on Greek mythology(one of the most powerful stories) and its impact on commercial products in this technology-rich environment. As I conduct some research on this area, I feel like mythology is everywhere around us.
The popular culture topic I am making my photostory on is Shopping. The reason I chose this topic is because another group had the topic and they did not want it, so we switched music for the topic of shopping because we are nice. Another reason I decided on this topic is because it easily ties in with economics. I teach 2nd grade and I plan to make mine a very basic ovierview of shopping including wants vs. needs and which we should shop for first.
I am also a part of the Advertising group for the pop culture class. I attempted to go in several directions with advertising, but none of it really grabbed me. So I decided to focus on what is closest to me which is the aftermath of Katrina and the affects.
I want to deliver the message that things are still not where they need to be in New Orleans. Many places still look the same. Also, I am attempting to look at the art of children and perhaps adults that have been created as a response to the storm.
Creating art is a wonderful outlet for a child when faced with any type of tragedy. The message can be applied not just with the hurricane in Louisiana, but other events by people and places all around the world. Still searching for the appropriate title for the story. My main goal is making this assignment both personal and useful to students.
I chose to do my popular culture topic and script on fast food. I will have to narrow it down to see where I want my focus to be, but I have a pretty good idea. It seems that I am constantly at a fast food restaurant grabbing a quick bite to go, so I want to focus on this in my script. We'll see how it turns out.
The popular culture topic that I am working on is "fashion." When my group picked this topic, I was a little worried because I know nothing about fashion. I plan on double-dipping by creating just one photostory for the Popular Culture class and the Digital Photography/Storytelling class. I know I would have a hard time making the theme "fashion" personal, but I will try my best.
The topic I chose for our popular culture class is performance enhancing drugs. Our group was assigned sports so we had to choose something within sports that could be related to pop culture. I felt that this topic would be one that has not been touched on enough in high schools. Obviously performance enhancing drugs are becoming a big part of the sports world and it needs to be addressed at the high school level.
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