Stories

1. Opera Set Going Up - I like the layers here, where you have voice, music and visual action. It was a lot to take in, but in a good way. I liked that the fast pace of the music matched the fast pace of the people moving around. All of it represented the passion and difficulty that goes into an opera performance. The spoken words explained the actions, which was important. The pauses in the speech were too long though, I got a little bored just watching. There was also no clear conclusion.

2. Wells Eviction - this piece seemed more like a news package than a story to me. The interviews did explain the visual action, but I guess the whole package just didn't seem as poetic as some of the other videos. The camera work was also shaky, and the nat sounds were too loud sometimes. I think this video was selected for its controversial but important story/content, rather than for its skill. The story was compelling, or at least the characters were, but I wasn't impressed visually.

3. myDesert, myLife: the Married Couple - This video was different because it used written text to give the background to the story. I like the idea - it was better that the audio could focus on more interesting things than "we have been married 53 years, and we have six children etc" because that was typed out for you. The video and audio not only told the story in words, but also in the gestures between the two, or the way they looked at each other and spoke to each other.

4. Dance class - Here the focus is on video to tell the story. Yes, the audio explained that it was a dance class and let us understand the personalities of the characters more, but the video really showed the action and set the tone. It also started and ended suddenly, as if to represent the class as an ongoing story, which I liked. I wish the piece was longer though, because you can't tell much of a story in just a few seconds.

5. Love at the Zoo - I really liked this piece. The music kept the pace going, the introduction set the scene - like a "once upon a time" - the written words helped to label what was coming, and just the general storytelling feeling from the host was great. I was really impressed.

The Experiment

Dear Dr. Bradford,

This font is huge

This one, not so much

This is blue Arial font

This is red Helvetica font

This lovely text is centered

And this one is centered AND italicized

THE END.