Below is specific information about the new media format options available for the Visual-Based Genres Project. See the Text & Visual Projects Assignment page for more details.
Contents
DEFINITION OF VISUAL GENRES
“Visual-based” genres are those new media genres that use visuals (along with audio voiceover) as the primary means of communicating a message to an audience.
To meet the learning goals for our class, your visual project must be based on a written script, meaning that it may not rely solely on visuals, but the script does not need to take the form of an essay. A detailed storyboard may suffice.
The project must also show evidence of substantial composition, meaning that you made choices regarding structure and design based on what would best suit the needs of your intended audience. For example, for a video project you might shoot one or two hours’ worth of video and then edit the video down to a short, well-organized piece that reflects careful composition.
LENGTH FOR VISUAL GENRES
As with the Text-Based Genres Project, it’s a little difficult to provide exact details on the desired length for a Visual-Based Genres Project, but here are a few estimates:
- for a project composed primarily of images with audio voiceover (i.e., digital storytelling), aim for around 6-8 minutes
- for a project that incorporates live video (such as people speaking on camera), aim for around 12-15 minutes
Projects completed with a group should be somewhat longer than those completed by individuals.
VISUAL GENRES AND COMPOSITION
The most important criteria for any option you choose is that your project must require that you engage in composition, meaning that you must make decisions about structure, visual and audio effects, and so on, and your project must show evidence of editing and revision.
In other words, you may not simply turn on a camera and record someone speaking off the top of their heads for 10 minutes and call it good. A project like that would require no composition on your part and would therefore not be suitable for a writing class project.
VISUAL GENRES – OPTIONS FOR FORMATS
Below are a few formats that are available within the category of Visual-Based Genres, along with links to resources relevant to each.
Samples: To see samples of previous student projects, view the Student Samples categories on the sidebar.
Final Submissions: To submit the final versions for most of these formats, you’ll upload the final video to a video hosting site, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and embed the video in your blog post.
DIGITAL STORYTELLING / PHOTO ESSAY
“Digital storytelling” is a specific kind of photo essay that focuses on conveying a personal story using photos and an audio voiceover. The personal story is typically about an event, person, or issue in one’s life that has taken on a degree of significance. For the purposes of our class, digital storytelling projects typically focus on telling a story about how the author came to understand gender and/or sexual orientation.
Digital storytelling projects can also focus on sharing the stories of others, although that may be more like a mini-documentary.
Resources: Browse the categories and tags on the sidebar.
MINI-DOCUMENTARY
A mini-documentary is a video narrative you construct using footage you’ve gathered yourself (by finding archival footage and/or shooting your own new footage). These videos typically serve the purpose of educating viewers about a fairly narrow and specific topic.
Resources: Relevant handouts on digitalwriting101.net
ANIMATION
Animations are also increasingly popular as a medium for communicating information that is well suited to “story” format, but they can also be useful for educational purposes. An animation is a story acted out by animated characters, whose behavior and dialogue is scripted and “directed” by you.
Resources: You can create animations using free web tools even if you can’t draw a thing! See the Animations section of Recommended apps for digital composition. Each animation tool has its own “help” section to provide guidance on how to use the tool.
REMIX
The “remix,” also sometimes referred to as a “mashup,” is a relatively new genre in which the creator assembles a collection of pre-existing media material in order to convey a new story or message. The “pre-existing” media elements are typically from published mass media pieces, such as TV shows, news stories, movies, commercials, radio broadcasts, songs, and so on.
A remix is a kind of video collage, and just as they do with photo collages, people often make remixes for entertainment purposes. For example, you can find hundreds of remixes on YouTube made by fans of particular shows or actors, and while some of these may explore a particular theme or convey an analytical perspective, most of them are meant simply to express appreciation for the characters portrayed in the remix.
If you choose to try the genre of remix, your project should do more than simply entertain. It should use existing media to convey a new story or message that fulfills the criteria for the topic and purpose of this project.
Additional Sample: Here’s a sample remix I made a few years ago for a digital composition workshop, using only footage from Archive.org: Multimodality of Gender. Also search for remixes on Google, including the queer remix of Mad Men and the Queer Carrie Project.