2. Essay topics based on texts studied in individual classes
Mid Year exam: 3 hours for essay chosen from a range of types linked thematically to the text studied in Term 1
2013 Topics derived from Life of Pi. A range of essay types such as creative, opinion, discursive.
3. "Meeting Kurt" Creative writing task
This involves creating a story event in which there is a distinct change of perspective on the part of the narrator
A Journalist creates his 11 tips for better writing
This task requires that you create a visual presentation based around the literature you have studied this year. You can choose a character to explore or a theme. The task is available below to refresh your memory of what you are required to do. I have also added some links to visual essays of various kinds to help you see the kind of thing you should be trying to create.
1.
A student's essay based on the novel TheReader . This student was in Year 12 and this is Level 2 Excellence. If you watch this, you should note the fact that he has developed his ideas and discusses these in detail using clips from the film of the novel (starring Kate Winslet) to support what he is describing. Note too that the setting in which he films himself has relevance. Behind him is a bookshelf full of books =strong link to the film where the woman was unable to read and did not possess books. You do not have to film yourself speaking. You could simply add the voice over without appearing but you will need visual material onscreen throughout.
The teacher who posted this you tube clip said the following: As a class we studied Bernhard Schlink's novel "The Reader" in preparation for the 2.1 exam. This student wanted to re-package and re-vamp an essay we prepared in class but present it visually, drawing evidence from the film rather than the novel. He submitted this visual essay for assessment against 2.6 and he's given me his permission to share it with this community. I've assessed it as an E. The way I see it, the ideas are mature, compelling, persuasive and definitely it has been crafted with control and skill. The use of visual language, especially matching the voice-over with the film clip to exemplify an idea, clearly commands attention.
This is a story of how Rangitoto came into being. It has been created and narrated by three brothers, aged 11yrs, 9yrs & 6yrs and the material they used came from Creative Commons so they did not infringe any copyright laws. It was entered into the Mix and Mash competition and won a $500 prize.
Look up the website of Mix and Mash to view some other visual presentations.
Google mixandmash.org.nz to get to this website.
This mihimihi is very well done
Things to consider when composing your essay (material sourced from Hamish Chalmers)
What is a Visual Essay?
A visual essay is a text that aims to communicate the ideas from another (source) text by using visual and verbal language. They will often also have written elements which are integrated and linked with the visual elements of the text. Visual essays aim to communicate a selection of ideas from a source text in enough detail to be interesting and informative for the viewers or audience. These ideas are usually surface and deeper / literal, inferred and thematic and are derived from a comprehensive knowledge of the source text.
Visual essays can be produced in a variety of styles and tools and often have a series of images and panels (compositions of other images and text). They can also include auditory elements such as speech, sound effects and music. The visual language techniques in a visual essay are used to engage the audience and communicate the ideas from the source text as effectively as possible.
Techniques Guidelines
These are intended as additions to the work around visual language and static images - most of the techniques and the way they are used are directly applicable to visual essays. It would also be excellent to see this resource continue to develop so feel free to contribute or edit!
Thematic/stylistic consistency (coherence and commanding attention)
Establishing a strong visual style across all slides in a visual essay is essential if the text is to "command attention." Styles can range from cut and paste "South Park style" to graphic novel style and right through to photo-realistic. Through deliberate and planned use of fonts, the choosing and creating of images, consistent use of colour and filters and repetition of visual elements across panels, ideas can be detailed, linked to other ideas and all contribute to a coherent visual essay.
Images as symbols (as in symbolism)
Choosing the best (or just really good) image(s) to represent a theme(s) can be an excellent way of communicating meaning in a visual essay. Ideally, an image should link closely with the theme or ideas it is meant to represent while also retaining a literal link with the source text. As the visual essay progresses, symbolic images can also change to indicate how themes are developed in the course of the source text (and then the visual text itself) and/or how reader/audience understandings might change as the text progresses. Transparency and opacity, various filters, proportion changes, colour changes and different textures can all be used to add progressively add detail to symbols in the course of a visual essay.
Transparency and opacity
Both these techniques can be used to illustrate a one-off idea and changing or developing ideas really well. Transparency and opacity are also really easy to do with electronic media. A visual symbol might become more or less transparent to illustrate its increasing or decreasing influence or effect while a character could become more of less transparent to illustrate their relative importance to the text, to another character or influence over them. An opaque image could suggest falsity or lack of substance (metaphorically and/or literally) or even confusion. Opaque colours over an image or part of an image is a really quick way of changing and setting mood or suggesting something else about the image. Particularly at higher curriculum levels, it's important to ensure that the effects of opacity and transparency are convincing and not too much a stretch of logic. The meaning shouldn't be overly ambiguous for the intended audience of the text.
Font, titles and text
While maintaining a recognisable visual style across panels, changing fonts can also link to ideas. Awesome fonts are really easy to find on the internet (dafont.com is great for creative fonts) and are often underused in static images to create meaning. In visual essays there’s even more potential as fonts can be altered to illustrate some kind of change.
Colour as a motif
Colour can be an effective linking element for ideas and themes. Particularly when combined with symbols. It can be used to:
link text to visual elements.
track multiple themes across a visual essay
to illustrate areas within a theme or across themes
emphasise important images repeated across panels
developing detail as the text progresses
Given the fact that visual essays aren’t limited to single panels, students have a degree of freedom in developing ideas as the text progresses. Themes can be introduced in a simple fashion and then developed as the visual essay progresses. Panels can also be used for a single important purpose (such as emotional impact or emphasising important moments in a text) instead of jamming all ideas into a single composition as a student may have to do with a single static image.
Voice over
Some initial ideas are how it can be used effectively by:
speaking as a character from the text who can offer a critical perspective and analysis.
speaking as multiple characters from the text that can offer varying perspectives and analysis.
a character the students have created themselves to offer perspective and analysis.
Voice over could also be used to outline important events, analyse them, explain themes and create/develop mood. Obviously, as with textual elements it should link clearly with the visual elements.
Sounds effects and Music
Both sound effects and music can be used to:
create mood
enhance visual elements.
highlight visual elements.
highlight change across a visual essay.
a musical motif might emphasise or trace a theme as it develops across slides.
engage the audience through affect and emotional impact
Animations
These can be done really easily in video editing apps and even more easily in powerpoint, Libre Office Impress etc. Fade ins, appears, flashes etc can all highlight important visual elements and illustrate change really well. Varying transitions between panels could also be used to illustrate different moods and ideas in particular parts of texts.
Animations can also be created effectively be saving/exporting multiple versions of the same panel with minor variations. As particular parts of single panels are changed they can then be strung together in a video editing app or electronic presentation. Eg: the green light at the end of Daisy's dock in "The Great Gatsby" might pulse to indicate its importance to Gatsby and of dreams to the text.
Multiple visual threads of meaning
Panels can be divided into separate areas and ideas developed consistently in these areas throughout the text. EG: using the background consistently across panels to illustrate a changing mood, the middle ground to develop ideas around setting and the foreground to illustrate the action and characters. As structural conventions like these are established in a visual essay, they can also be abandoned in particular panels for various reasons, eg: the climax or emotional impact panel where composition may be totally different.
Tools for Creating Visual Essays (and any visual/verbal text really)
There are heaps of different applications (open source, free(ish) and browser-based) that can help with creating really good visual essays. Some have a slightly steeper learning curve than others but they all have readily available tutorials on the internet. It's worth asking students what they're already skilled in too, you might be surprised what crazy skills they have that could lend themselves well to some part of creating a visual text. And remember, we (teachers) don't need to know anything about the tool ourselves!!!
A quick explanation of terminology:
Open source software: software that is free to download and use and needs to be installed on a computer to work. If you're particularly nerdy you can get hold of the source code and make changes to the apps themselves.
Free software: Same as above but without access to the source code. Sometimes free software is only semi-free though, ie: you'll only be able to get a hamstrung version of something unless you pay for it. In the worst-case scenario, free software will sometimes install other annoying applications in your computer with or without telling you. Free software needs to be installed on a computer to work.
Commercial software: You need to pay for it and install it on a computer to work.
Browser-based apps: You don't need to install these on a computer, all you need is a browser to use them! Eg: chrome, firefox, internet explorer etc. Sometimes totally free but usually with a range of subscription options that give you more usability. Browser based apps have become very powerful in the last few years.
Manipulating and Creating Images
Gimp - open source software
An open source piece of software that can be used for manipulating images. It can be used to cut out particular things from larger images, compose and layer different images to create full panels and apply all kinds of awesome filters and effects to all or parts parts of panels. There are a number of GIMP tutorials designed specifically for visual essays [here.]
Inkscape - open source software
Inkscape is also open source and provides much of the functionality as GIMP. Minus some of the more exciting filters it's much better at creating images from scratch and changing the edges and form of shapes. Users can create simple shapes (or convert the outlines of imported shapes) and adjust these at will. While it takes a bit more time to get proficient with than GIMP, there are a bunch of great basic and advanced tutorials out there to help.
Browser-based apps
Splashup has all of the basic stuff of GIMP and Photoshop and uses the same user interface conventions so people who are used to photoshop and/or GIMP will be right at home here. It also doesn't need a subscription and can import and export to and from your desktop.
Video editing - Compiling and Linking Panels
Commercial software
Windows Movie Maker and Imovie are free if you have a licensed copies of the respective OSs (Windows and MacOS).
Open source
Open source video editing apps are a bit trickier to use (and sometimes buggier) - Openshot is a goody here.
Free software
Lightworks is amazing but pretty full on to use - it's a fully fledged video editing app and was used to edit all kinds of famous films! Great if you've got students who have the inclination to get right into video editing.
Lotek options
It's also worth keeping in mind the lotek options like MS Powerpoint, Libre Office Impress (open source) and online tools like voicethread and even prezi.
Audio
Audacity
An open source app for recording, mixing and altering sounds. It is quite intuitive to use and is an excellent option if students want to use voiceover in visual essays. It's also easy to use for mixing in other tracks - sound-effects and music.
Access to material for your visual essay
Music
Effective and affective music for visual essays (or anything for that matter) doesn't need to be complex or masterful. For visual essays soundtracks, effectively creating meaning can be as simple as creating different tracks for each panel to set mood and link with themes and other important ideas. Sometimes a simple, recognisable melody that is even irregularly timed can enhance visual meanings already in a text. Combining music with other sound effects can also be an effective technique.
Free Synthesisers and mixers!
Students don't even need musical skill to create their own awesome tracks these days, although perhaps it does help a little. As with any ICT, there's a little bit of initial learning but both of the below synthesisers take very little time to knock out a few simple melodies with some rhythms to go with them. Both tools could be used in conjunction with Audacity to combine sounds and samples from other sources. Linux MultiMedia Studio is available in Windoze and Linux flavours and has a fairly comprehensive wiki if students want to really get into it. Aviary has an awesome browser-based synthesiser and is even easier to use than LMMS. It can export to .wav and .mp3 but is unfortunately only around until late September. Aviary also have a bunch of image editing tools which will disappear at the same time as the synthesiser app. I'm sure there's other browser-based options out there somewhere though...
Royalty Free Music
Students don't need to compose their own music of course, there's plenty of totally free stuff out there they can use. Always attributing authors is a good practice here, even if it's not required.
Jamendo now has over 350 000 free tracks! Ridiculous!
This is a complex task. It will take a long time but will be fun and challenging. Do not think you can throw it together the day before it is due. You can be really creative. I think if you wrote an essay first on a specific topic you would give yourself a focus. Then start re-working that into a "script". Remember that you can present static images or use moving images. You can show yourself narrating or not. You need to show depth of ideas so think hard about how you can use visual elements to hint at things without having to spell things out.
And if it is all too hard, you can choose the alternative and do a speech instead.
Google 'prezi how to make one' on you tube
Here is an example of a prezi on the topic of what literature is. Copy the url below into your browser search bar and hopefully it will come up with the prezi
3.5 ORAL PRESENTATION - alternative internal assessment
This is based on your literature that you have studied. The task is to develop a six minute seminar on a topic derived from the literature you have studied this year. It can be an aspect related to the literature and not solely about the novel or film studied. So for example, taking Gattaca as your starter you could discuss the way dystopian worlds are presented in film. You might discuss the commonalities and/or differences in a range of selected films. For example, the world of Gattaca represents a kind of perfection and a stark cleanliness. The world of Blade Runner instead shows us a world of ugliness, decay and darkness. Yet both films are about creation of "perfection" and 'tampering with mother nature'.
The idea is to present highly developed and complex ideas in an informative and thought-provoking way. You should use some visual aids and audience interaction. You must try to use at least half your talk to discuss the novel or film we have studied before you go "Beyond the Text" to discuss other texts or issues. A common error is to assume that you can take the issue of genetic engineering in the film Gattaca and then present a talk which is just a biology lecture on genetics and the film is never referenced after the first sentence.
A Shakespeare joke
Edmodo - classroom to infinity and beyond ......
https://edmo.do/j/msk5ik
Course Content:
3.1 External exam - Novel/Written text study
LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTELLhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk4N9A0oCA - What makes a hero?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqr8aAZX7q0 The Hero's Journey Campbell's monomyth
Articles/literary comment on Life of Pi -
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n22/james-wood/credulity
http://jrdurden.wordpress.com/analysis-life-of-pi/
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/books/taming-the-tiger.html?smid
3.2 External Exam - film study
GATTACA - directed by Andrew Niccol
3.3 External Exam - Unfamiliar Texts
Know your techniques:http://www.slideshare.net/staffordh/tone-7804014 - this one has the dog joke
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=15613 Praise song for my mother Grace Nichols
Article to read about writing style - with many associated links
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/10/steven-pinker-sense-of-style/
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
3.4 Writing Portfolio
1. Opinion /Column type essay
Things that make you go hmmm.........
2. Essay topics based on texts studied in individual classes
Mid Year exam: 3 hours for essay chosen from a range of types linked thematically to the text studied in Term 12013 Topics derived from Life of Pi. A range of essay types such as creative, opinion, discursive.
3. "Meeting Kurt" Creative writing task
This involves creating a story event in which there is a distinct change of perspective on the part of the narratorA Journalist creates his 11 tips for better writing
http://thetalentcode.com/2013/04/02/11-rules-for-better-writing/
NOTE TO 2013 class
Read through the attached instructions and exemplars. Do some planning at home and be ready to start writing on Tuesday.
3.6 Internal Assessment - Presentation skills
The visual Essay Task - Term 3
This task requires that you create a visual presentation based around the literature you have studied this year. You can choose a character to explore or a theme. The task is available below to refresh your memory of what you are required to do. I have also added some links to visual essays of various kinds to help you see the kind of thing you should be trying to create.
1.
A student's essay based on the novel The Reader . This student was in Year 12 and this is Level 2 Excellence. If you watch this, you should note the fact that he has developed his ideas and discusses these in detail using clips from the film of the novel (starring Kate Winslet) to support what he is describing. Note too that the setting in which he films himself has relevance. Behind him is a bookshelf full of books =strong link to the film where the woman was unable to read and did not possess books. You do not have to film yourself speaking. You could simply add the voice over without appearing but you will need visual material onscreen throughout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeeNW7I9ugM
The teacher who posted this you tube clip said the following:
As a class we studied Bernhard Schlink's novel "The Reader" in preparation for the 2.1 exam. This student wanted to re-package and re-vamp an essay we prepared in class but present it visually, drawing evidence from the film rather than the novel. He submitted this visual essay for assessment against 2.6 and he's given me his permission to share it with this community. I've assessed it as an E. The way I see it, the ideas are mature, compelling, persuasive and definitely it has been crafted with control and skill. The use of visual language, especially matching the voice-over with the film clip to exemplify an idea, clearly commands attention.
2.
Some suggested static visuals which show progression of ideas, depth and detail.
The Walking Dead
The books parents most ask to be removed from libraries
A visual attempt to explain the maddeningly complex plot/dream threads of Inception
Books vs Ebooks
Evil and ugly to good and pretty - vampire continuum. Note the pairing of attractiveness to moral fibre.
3. Some other visual presentations - note that not all of them are this task but they represent the skills required for your presentation.
"The Story of Rangitoto" by Travis, Evan & Jared Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTAoMa1vzHc
This is a story of how Rangitoto came into being. It has been created and narrated by three brothers, aged 11yrs, 9yrs & 6yrs and the material they used came from Creative Commons so they did not infringe any copyright laws. It was entered into the Mix and Mash competition and won a $500 prize.
Look up the website of Mix and Mash to view some other visual presentations.
Google mixandmash.org.nz to get to this website.
This mihimihi is very well done
Mihimihi" by Graham Jenson
http://mihimihi.maori.geek.nz/Things to consider when composing your essay (material sourced from Hamish Chalmers)
What is a Visual Essay?
A visual essay is a text that aims to communicate the ideas from another (source) text by using visual and verbal language. They will often also have written elements which are integrated and linked with the visual elements of the text. Visual essays aim to communicate a selection of ideas from a source text in enough detail to be interesting and informative for the viewers or audience. These ideas are usually surface and deeper / literal, inferred and thematic and are derived from a comprehensive knowledge of the source text.Visual essays can be produced in a variety of styles and tools and often have a series of images and panels (compositions of other images and text). They can also include auditory elements such as speech, sound effects and music. The visual language techniques in a visual essay are used to engage the audience and communicate the ideas from the source text as effectively as possible.
Techniques Guidelines
These are intended as additions to the work around visual language and static images - most of the techniques and the way they are used are directly applicable to visual essays. It would also be excellent to see this resource continue to develop so feel free to contribute or edit!Thematic/stylistic consistency (coherence and commanding attention)
Establishing a strong visual style across all slides in a visual essay is essential if the text is to "command attention." Styles can range from cut and paste "South Park style" to graphic novel style and right through to photo-realistic. Through deliberate and planned use of fonts, the choosing and creating of images, consistent use of colour and filters and repetition of visual elements across panels, ideas can be detailed, linked to other ideas and all contribute to a coherent visual essay.Images as symbols (as in symbolism)
Choosing the best (or just really good) image(s) to represent a theme(s) can be an excellent way of communicating meaning in a visual essay. Ideally, an image should link closely with the theme or ideas it is meant to represent while also retaining a literal link with the source text. As the visual essay progresses, symbolic images can also change to indicate how themes are developed in the course of the source text (and then the visual text itself) and/or how reader/audience understandings might change as the text progresses. Transparency and opacity, various filters, proportion changes, colour changes and different textures can all be used to add progressively add detail to symbols in the course of a visual essay.Transparency and opacity
Both these techniques can be used to illustrate a one-off idea and changing or developing ideas really well. Transparency and opacity are also really easy to do with electronic media. A visual symbol might become more or less transparent to illustrate its increasing or decreasing influence or effect while a character could become more of less transparent to illustrate their relative importance to the text, to another character or influence over them. An opaque image could suggest falsity or lack of substance (metaphorically and/or literally) or even confusion. Opaque colours over an image or part of an image is a really quick way of changing and setting mood or suggesting something else about the image. Particularly at higher curriculum levels, it's important to ensure that the effects of opacity and transparency are convincing and not too much a stretch of logic. The meaning shouldn't be overly ambiguous for the intended audience of the text.Font, titles and text
While maintaining a recognisable visual style across panels, changing fonts can also link to ideas. Awesome fonts are really easy to find on the internet (dafont.com is great for creative fonts) and are often underused in static images to create meaning. In visual essays there’s even more potential as fonts can be altered to illustrate some kind of change.Colour as a motif
Colour can be an effective linking element for ideas and themes. Particularly when combined with symbols. It can be used to:- link text to visual elements.
- track multiple themes across a visual essay
- to illustrate areas within a theme or across themes
- emphasise important images repeated across panels
- developing detail as the text progresses
Given the fact that visual essays aren’t limited to single panels, students have a degree of freedom in developing ideas as the text progresses. Themes can be introduced in a simple fashion and then developed as the visual essay progresses. Panels can also be used for a single important purpose (such as emotional impact or emphasising important moments in a text) instead of jamming all ideas into a single composition as a student may have to do with a single static image.Voice over
Some initial ideas are how it can be used effectively by:- speaking as a character from the text who can offer a critical perspective and analysis.
- speaking as multiple characters from the text that can offer varying perspectives and analysis.
- a character the students have created themselves to offer perspective and analysis.
Voice over could also be used to outline important events, analyse them, explain themes and create/develop mood. Obviously, as with textual elements it should link clearly with the visual elements.Sounds effects and Music
Both sound effects and music can be used to:Animations
These can be done really easily in video editing apps and even more easily in powerpoint, Libre Office Impress etc. Fade ins, appears, flashes etc can all highlight important visual elements and illustrate change really well. Varying transitions between panels could also be used to illustrate different moods and ideas in particular parts of texts.Animations can also be created effectively be saving/exporting multiple versions of the same panel with minor variations. As particular parts of single panels are changed they can then be strung together in a video editing app or electronic presentation. Eg: the green light at the end of Daisy's dock in "The Great Gatsby" might pulse to indicate its importance to Gatsby and of dreams to the text.
Multiple visual threads of meaning
Panels can be divided into separate areas and ideas developed consistently in these areas throughout the text. EG: using the background consistently across panels to illustrate a changing mood, the middle ground to develop ideas around setting and the foreground to illustrate the action and characters. As structural conventions like these are established in a visual essay, they can also be abandoned in particular panels for various reasons, eg: the climax or emotional impact panel where composition may be totally different.Tools for Creating Visual Essays (and any visual/verbal text really)
There are heaps of different applications (open source, free(ish) and browser-based) that can help with creating really good visual essays. Some have a slightly steeper learning curve than others but they all have readily available tutorials on the internet. It's worth asking students what they're already skilled in too, you might be surprised what crazy skills they have that could lend themselves well to some part of creating a visual text. And remember, we (teachers) don't need to know anything about the tool ourselves!!!A quick explanation of terminology:
Manipulating and Creating Images
Gimp - open source software
An open source piece of software that can be used for manipulating images. It can be used to cut out particular things from larger images, compose and layer different images to create full panels and apply all kinds of awesome filters and effects to all or parts parts of panels. There are a number of GIMP tutorials designed specifically for visual essays [here.]Inkscape - open source software
Inkscape is also open source and provides much of the functionality as GIMP. Minus some of the more exciting filters it's much better at creating images from scratch and changing the edges and form of shapes. Users can create simple shapes (or convert the outlines of imported shapes) and adjust these at will. While it takes a bit more time to get proficient with than GIMP, there are a bunch of great basic and advanced tutorials out there to help.Browser-based apps
Splashup has all of the basic stuff of GIMP and Photoshop and uses the same user interface conventions so people who are used to photoshop and/or GIMP will be right at home here. It also doesn't need a subscription and can import and export to and from your desktop.Video editing - Compiling and Linking Panels
Commercial software
Windows Movie Maker and Imovie are free if you have a licensed copies of the respective OSs (Windows and MacOS).Open source
Open source video editing apps are a bit trickier to use (and sometimes buggier) - Openshot is a goody here.Free software
Lightworks is amazing but pretty full on to use - it's a fully fledged video editing app and was used to edit all kinds of famous films! Great if you've got students who have the inclination to get right into video editing.Lotek options
It's also worth keeping in mind the lotek options like MS Powerpoint, Libre Office Impress (open source) and online tools like voicethread and even prezi.Audio
Audacity
An open source app for recording, mixing and altering sounds. It is quite intuitive to use and is an excellent option if students want to use voiceover in visual essays. It's also easy to use for mixing in other tracks - sound-effects and music.Access to material for your visual essay
Music
Effective and affective music for visual essays (or anything for that matter) doesn't need to be complex or masterful. For visual essays soundtracks, effectively creating meaning can be as simple as creating different tracks for each panel to set mood and link with themes and other important ideas. Sometimes a simple, recognisable melody that is even irregularly timed can enhance visual meanings already in a text. Combining music with other sound effects can also be an effective technique.Free Synthesisers and mixers!
Students don't even need musical skill to create their own awesome tracks these days, although perhaps it does help a little. As with any ICT, there's a little bit of initial learning but both of the below synthesisers take very little time to knock out a few simple melodies with some rhythms to go with them. Both tools could be used in conjunction with Audacity to combine sounds and samples from other sources.Linux MultiMedia Studio is available in Windoze and Linux flavours and has a fairly comprehensive wiki if students want to really get into it.
Aviary has an awesome browser-based synthesiser and is even easier to use than LMMS. It can export to .wav and .mp3 but is unfortunately only around until late September. Aviary also have a bunch of image editing tools which will disappear at the same time as the synthesiser app. I'm sure there's other browser-based options out there somewhere though...
Royalty Free Music
Students don't need to compose their own music of course, there's plenty of totally free stuff out there they can use. Always attributing authors is a good practice here, even if it's not required.Sound Effects
Creating the storyboard:
Use the online version or the paper versionstoryboard tool. ( online)
paper version
Storyboard template (Word 30KB)
Advice from me
This is a complex task. It will take a long time but will be fun and challenging. Do not think you can throw it together the day before it is due. You can be really creative. I think if you wrote an essay first on a specific topic you would give yourself a focus. Then start re-working that into a "script". Remember that you can present static images or use moving images. You can show yourself narrating or not. You need to show depth of ideas so think hard about how you can use visual elements to hint at things without having to spell things out.And if it is all too hard, you can choose the alternative and do a speech instead.
Youtube on reality - another form of visual essay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShD_tCdfYSk&feature=share&list=PLuz7RUvtFdHKi4BiJTyvCS1pFgBsfHlLI&
THE PREZI
Google 'prezi how to make one' on you tubeHere is an example of a prezi on the topic of what literature is. Copy the url below into your browser search bar and hopefully it will come up with the prezi
http://prezi.com/b7bhxxqlpljf/what-is-literature/#
one on Atonement
http://prezi.com/ilq_uahvhbil/atonement/
3.5 ORAL PRESENTATION - alternative internal assessment
This is based on your literature that you have studied. The task is to develop a six minute seminar on a topic derived from the literature you have studied this year. It can be an aspect related to the literature and not solely about the novel or film studied. So for example, taking Gattaca as your starter you could discuss the way dystopian worlds are presented in film. You might discuss the commonalities and/or differences in a range of selected films. For example, the world of Gattaca represents a kind of perfection and a stark cleanliness. The world of Blade Runner instead shows us a world of ugliness, decay and darkness. Yet both films are about creation of "perfection" and 'tampering with mother nature'.
The idea is to present highly developed and complex ideas in an informative and thought-provoking way. You should use some visual aids and audience interaction. You must try to use at least half your talk to discuss the novel or film we have studied before you go "Beyond the Text" to discuss other texts or issues. A common error is to assume that you can take the issue of genetic engineering in the film Gattaca and then present a talk which is just a biology lecture on genetics and the film is never referenced after the first sentence.