LEAP 2: Why Are We Attracted to Characters and Stories?
Reflecting on my creative process and experience with my partner for my LEAP 2 project.
For our LEAP 2 project, myself and my partner, Lisa Marshall, decided to focus on the topic of Chapter 6, “Why Are We Attracted to Characters and Stories?”. We chose this chapter because it was one that we both found the most interesting, and we both had multiple examples of stories and characters within media that resonate with us. After choosing our topic, our first step in working on our project was to create a Google Doc that we both could jot down ideas in before planning the organization of our project. First, we pointed out key factors from the chapter that we wanted to focus on, and next two examples each of characters in media that we both wished to highlight in our video to present the topics that we were discussing. We both chose two television show characters, which instantly showcased our similarities for our interests in media.
Our next step to tackling this project was to Facetime in order to speak with each other and delegate certain roles and responsibilities for the project to one another. We went over our Google Doc over the phone and pointed our aspects that we both found interesting and would prefer to work on. To keep our project simplified and easily-flowing, we decided that I would be in charge of the introduction, explanation of our topic, and my two examples, or the first half of the video. In contrast, Lisa would be in charge of her two examples, focusing in on the chapter and outside resources/information, and finally the conclusion. By structuring our parts like this, we ensured that we both did an equal amount of research, writing, and creating in the video while making it easy for us to combine both of our pieces at the end.
Next, we both took a few days to write the script for our parts within the Google Doc. After checking both over and making sure that we weren’t leaving anything important out, we chose a creative outlet in which we would physically produce our video on. Since we both had experience with Screencasting, we agreed that it would be a tool we would like to use again. However, since the premise of the LEAP 2 project is to branch out and discover new media creation tools, we decided to give Adobe Sparks a try. We created a project on this platform and shared it with each other so that we both could edit it and add to it at different times. While Adobe Sparks was interesting to work with and nice because we were able to combine a mixture of videos, photos, and text, the one aspect that I found the most challenging about the website was timing my videos and slides with my narrations so that Lisa’s slides and my own did not overlap each other. At one point in the project, the both of us were narrating a slide at the same time. However, with hard work we were able to produce a video that we were proud of.
I am really satisfied and proud of how our project turned out, and one of the reasons I was content with being partners with Lisa for this project was because I enjoyed viewing her LEAP 1 project and I liked that she was one of the few students to submit it before the deadline. This showed me that she is organized, motivated, and on top of her work and these are all attributes I look for when working on a project with a partner. Lisa and I had no issues communicating, planning, and working on our project together over Facetime, texting, and our shared Google Doc and Adobe Spark project. We would check in with each other every few days to make sure we were both on the same page with certain aspects of the project and to ensure that both of us were doing okay with our parts in case one needed help.
You can view our LEAP 2 project below this article. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!
