Monday, April 25, 2011

A Week of Digital Stories Starts With "The Last Text"

Location: On the virtual set

My students have a pizza-and-film-festival event tonight, showing their digital stories that were the final project for my course on the history and culture of cyberspace.

All week I'll feature student stories, but today I'll begin with my own, done to test the technology I expected students to use. Speak shout outs to Ken Warren of Richmond's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology and my Writing Consultant, Korine.

As one might expect if you know me, some student-composers explored dystopian, Neo-Luddite, and cyberpunk themes. I hope they were not being so dark to pander to the professor, since this project gives them freedom to create anything as long as it relates to our course themes.

Doing a story with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker is a laborious process. I decided to do one myself; it took 10 hours to gather or take the photos, more to put them with a narrative. I did record it in one take, the only part of the process that was quick.

Here's my piece, inspired by the utter addiction to constant contact I see around me. Perhaps we should pay more attention to events beyond the horizon of the self, before that is the only horizon we have remaining.

3 comments:

Bryan Alexander said...

Wow, Joe. Terrific sf. Reminds me of Kunstler's novels.

Iggy O said...

Thanks, Bryan! Yes, Jim's novels and The Long Emergency cast their spell on me.

He was on campus a few years ago and my students got to meet him...great time though for his public talk he was in what he calls "mad dog mode" faced with all the techno-utopians. I would love to hear him debate Ray Kurzweil...or maybe not.

Glad to have your blog URL too. You'll see a freak with dreads as your latest follower.

Elaine Greywalker said...

What a cool assignment! I wanna enroll in your class. Or perhaps I'll just make a movie anyway.