These are four videos that will be included in module 3. I have been playing with youtube and wordpress to see the best way to work these videos out.
(from the film: Man With A Movie Camera (1929), dir. Dziga Vertov)
(from the film: The Battleship Potemkin (1925), dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
(from the film: Powqqatsi (1988), dir. Godfrey Reggio
(from the film: The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004), dir. Wendy Apple)
For my project I propose to write additional stories in my children’s book series idea. These books are based upon the adventures of Kody, a paraplegic dachshund. The stories are based on my real life dog that has become a real inspiration for dedication and determination. I received Kody six years ago when he was nine weeks old, and I have watched him grow and develop, much like a parent does to a child. When Kody became paralyzed, I knew things were going to change with our relationship. I decided that I was really interested in telling his stories to the public, and possibly use them in an educational way. My goal has always been to these stories span across many mediums, this will allow for the fullest involvement from the reader/user/listener.
These stories will be a work of fiction, however they are based on true scenarios and characters. It is a children’s book series that will hopefully show children and adults that being paralyzed is not the end all, like many people are afraid of. The main purpose is to inform and have fun with the reader. The reader should enjoy these adventures as well as learn and think about them. The audience should primarily be youth readers and their parents and teachers. I have had a fifth grade teacher read the demo book and has insisted I allow him to use it in his fifth grade class. Fifth grade is a little higher than the age group I had intended, but with the word choices that were made, many fifth graders would find it easy to read, but still learn from it. External focalization will be used, however, the narrator will be able to speculate the feelings of the character due to an omnivorous attribute. The stories will not have any particular arrangement. These stories will be written similar to how many half-hour television shows are: each story is a separate entity from the others. This does not mean that some of the stories will not bring in characters or situations from before, but I do not plan to have each story dependent on the previous one.I want to utilize varying mediums to let kids and adults learn, create and tell the stories in a new fashion. My ultimate goal is to have a complete DVD-Rom that would provide the stories, characters, and the ability to let the user tell the story. The user could choose to read the words or a narrator would be available, the user could highlight words and sounds, use hypertexts that would bring the user to other areas, stories and dictionaries for words that are unfamiliar to them. At this moment, it is unclear whether the upcoming passes that are required will be new stories or the multimedia re-workings of the previously created stories.
A challenge for me will be to create interesting and new short stories that will not bore the reader or me. I do not want to recreate stories or situations that are included in many already available books. Another challenge for me will be creating the interactive segments, I have many ideas but lacking the finances or programming needs to have these created. I am hoping to have assistants that will inexpensively do what I need.
My name is Matt(hew) Walsh and I have a colorful academic background, to say the least. I graduated from high school in Carver, Massachusetts in June of 1998 and started at UCF later that same month. I attended UCF until May of 1999, when I was asked to take some time off to re-evaluate my academic career: in other words, UCF placed me on academic suspension.
While working as a lifeguard for two main Orlando attractions, Disney and Wet’n'Wild (1999-2000), I attempted college again by attending Valencia Community College in the Fall semester of 1999. I was not entirely ready for school and instead of withdrawing from the classes, I failed most of them. I attempted one last time in Fall of 2000, and while attending courses there, moved to Tampa. This is important because for my 21st birthday (October 16 2000) I was given a dachshund puppy. His name is Kody and later you will see why this is important.
I was in Tampa for about a year when I found myself registering for courses at Hillsborough Community College in Summer 2001. I was unable to be a film major at HCC and found myself registering for Education classes for my major. I continued taking courses at HCC through the summer 2002 semester. I was one math class shy of obtaining my Associates Degree when I left HCC. I did not want to get a degree from another institution and had been in communication with UCF’s Digital Media department since May of 2002. I moved back to Orlando in August 2002. I became a UCF Digital Media alumnus in Spring 2005 and returned to became a SFDM graduate student in the Fall of 2006.
You may have been able to tell that I like to give information out in a narrative type form. I like to read and watch movies and have been working on my own children’s book series. A few weeks before my undergraduate graduation, Kody became paralyzed. This devasted me and took quite sometime for me to adjust to our new way of life. Kody on the other hand, had no problems adjusting and life went on for him. How is it that animals be so affectionate to their owners and friends and then when something devasting happens to themselves, go on as if nothing had happened. The human world could and should learn from this: ooh an idea. With Kody’s determination and love of his wheelchair, I decided I would write a children’s book based on his adventures and use it as a tool to help people cope and learn about the nature of being handicapped.
My reading list is relatively short at the moment: school and thesis related. I am passionate about Anne Rice novels and though I am very far from religion, her new novel about God entices me. I can watch all types of movies, ranging from the animated film Little Mermaid to Basic Instinct’s Director’s Cut (and yes I have watched them back to back before).
I am new to the world of gaming, well when I was younger I had a 8bit Nintendo sytem and Mario Brothers, but then again, who didn’t? I never got into the extreme gaming realm that seems to have taken over the world and virtual words out there. I did recently play a few games on my boyfriend’s xbox that brought back the fun I had with Mario and the gang. After playing Lego Star Wars, I knew I had to get a system to play the game at home. I found myself forking out 600+ dollars to purchase the new Playstation 3 because it is backward compatible with the PS2 and PS1, but for me it was the BluRay component that was the seller for me. Currently BluRay DVD players are over $1000 and I could not afford that. For some additional humor, I do not yet own any PS3 games or BluRay DVDs (I’ve had the system for about 2 months now). This will change on Tuesday the 22nd, when Pirates of the Caribbean and Dead Man’s Chest are released on BluRay! I am fairly comfortable with technology and using computers, this blog site however is a whole other story. I can use photoshop and love video/audio editing. If you ask me to build a webpage – find someone else..because I cannot use flash or dreamweaver – they do not like me for some reason! I love the internet and some of my favorite sites (educational ones included!) will be posted when I learn a little more on wordpress.
