Category: ds106

This week’s work on the final project included creating two aged images, two pieces of audio service announcements, and one gif, in addition to numerous tweets that help make the overall story more cohesive.  In addition to my work on the final project, I completed my advice post for future students.  I focused my advice on promoting strategies that I feel make the workload more fun and engaging.

The full twitter account for the final project can be viewed here.  Essentially I’ve created a page that impersonates Julius Caesar (as a character in Xena: Warrior Princess) that provides his perspective on Season 4 events.   I found inspiration from the companion twitter accounts created for the web series Carmilla and the companion tumblr account created for the show Wynonna Earp.  Essentially, fans of the show would be able to visit the account and view what can be considered another layer of storytelling.   On this account, “Caesar” has tweeted a total of 22 times, which has included 4 pieces of image editing, 1 piece of video-editing, 3 pieces of audio editing, and 1 gif.  His account itself can be considered a web assignment, and the whole project can be considered a form of fanfiction. I must say, some of his tweeting style may have been inspired by recent political figures… An example:

Xena attempted to assassinate me today and failed epically. This is getting ridiculous. #Pathetic #FindHer

— Julius Caesar (@Imperial_Rome) December 8, 2016

Enjoy, and thanks for a great semester!

I have decided to stick with my original plan of tying together a story from Caesar’s perspective in Xena: Warrior Princess.  To accomplish this, I’ve created a fake twitter account for Julius Caesar where he regularly posts his own opinions (think ancient Donald Trump…) and links to more formal updates (such as public service announcements, etc.).  So far I’ve been having a great deal of fun with this project.  I love my topic and have found many of my little creations to be personally hilarious.  The full progress can be viewed on the twitter page itself, but here is an example tweet that is one of my personal favorites.

If Pompey wants a civil war, he’s got another thing coming. Rome wants the best, and I am the best. #Pompeystinks pic.twitter.com/SFqZPT8OlL

— Julius Caesar (@Imperial_Rome) November 21, 2016

This week has largely been spent brainstorming ideas.  Any open-ended project is intimidating in that the possibilities are essentially endless and selecting the right idea is entirely dependent upon you.  Selecting a topic that will be continue to engage me and motivate me over several weeks is critical.  If anyone has noticed a slight theme in my projects, it’s that many of my assignments revolve around Xena: Warrior Princess.  My thought is that I can create an overarching story that revolves around true events in the series, with additional supplemental pieces (almost like a giant piece of fanfiction).  Most of these pieces I believe I can create from the point of view of Caesar’s government, which would be trying to track down and kill Xena.  They would paint her as a villainous character, which would provide a context where both truth and lies can intermingle (which could provide great exercises in tone).  So for instance, I could create a Twitter account devoted to posting public safety announcements in regards to Xena’s whereabouts, and a Google Map Tracker of last known locations.  In addition, I could create service announcements (such as those that interrupt our “regularly scheduled program) and most wanted videos.  Essentially I would be creating a propaganda machine devoted to discrediting Xena’s accomplishments and attempting to capture her.

This has been a fun week for me, as mashups are my forte.  I began by mashing up E.T. and Poltergeist in another little exercise focusing on finding similarities among films (even with wildly different tones).  Following the election, I performed another Poltergeist mashup to properly capture my feelings.  I then published a Wonder Woman mashup I uploaded last week (for fun) following the new trailer release.  I then created a video examining a changing character, which in this case was Gabrielle.  I moved to remixes, beginning by remixing my archetypes assignment (creating a horrific power point), followed by my Mulan video (which also experimented with tone).  I also created a tutorial for the original Mulan related assignment I completed a while back (which allowed me to reflect on the step-by-step process I needed to complete the project).  Overall I turned this into a video-focused mashup week, allowing me to continue to hone my editing skills in both iMovie and CyberLink PowerDirector.

The daily creates I completed this week were essentially some fun exercises in creative writing.

@ds106dc These are a collection of items from a castaway (food, tool bits, internet, etc.) #ds106 #tdc1768

— Anna Rinko (@rinko_anna) November 11, 2016

@ds106dc Beauty is goodness manifested visually. #ds106 #tdc1769

— Anna Rinko (@rinko_anna) November 11, 2016