Creative Writing UNIT 4 SEMESTER 1

A storyboard is used to

Plan each piece of the presentation

What contributes most to tone and mood in a presentation

The text, Background music, and visual images

When planning a presentation, what should you think of first

Audience and purpose

Answer The tone in all of the Pale Blue Dot presentations is one of reflection and a hope that people will learn. The words and the way they are spoken and the images used help establish this tone. Background music is thoughtful and soft. Using the Pink Floyd song in the Pale Blue Dot #5 presentation adds another element of thought provoking lyrics that match this tone. Answer The tone is cheerful and enthusiastic, and has an attitude of "this is a fun thing to learn." Because of the story being used as the background to this presentation, there is some sadness as well. The colors are appealing and can be viewed as happy or sad depending on what happens in the story. The person's voice is pleasant and easy to listen to. . Answer The attitude is humor and fun. The spoken language as well as body language shows this. The video clips are exaggerated to add humor. Answer "The Story of My Life" has a tone of sadness, and then of hope. The black and white pictures and the words contribute to the tone. "Sometimes Silence Speaks" has a tone of thoughtful reflection. Again, the words and the connection between words and images contribute to the tone. The colorful flowers also help the tone be positive. Answer The tone of "A Fossil in Time" is serious but upbeat and hopeful. We can tell this by the tone of the speaker's voice and by the background music (as well as the words). Although the speaker's face is serious, there is a little smile that happens to also contribute to the tone. The tone of "The Love of My Life" is serious and melancholy - and romantic. The setting (candles and the color red) contributes to the romantic tone. The words, music, and tone of voice of the speaker all contribute to the serious and melancholy tone.

Answer Serious, thoughtful, maybe even somewhat angry at the things humans do. Answer Curiosity, positive feelings about the music and about learning. Answer Laughter or at least smiles. Also maybe some emotional connections because of the topic. Answer "The Story of My Life" creates a mood of pity, and of hope - and of wanting to do something to help. "Sometimes Silence Speaks" creates a mood of positive reflection, and possibly some sadness at how many people don't act on the words being presented. Answer The mood created by "A Fossil in Time" is hope and quiet happiness. We can imagine some of the landscape she speaks of. The mood created in "The Love of My Life" is romantic sadness and thoughtfulness.

Exploring Multimedia Pale Blue Dot Illustration of the Earth as viewed from space. The Earth We are going to start by looking at a few multimedia presentations made using the same text. They all use images, recorded voice, and background music, but all are different. Carl Sagan, astronomer and popular science writer, was struck by a photograph taken by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990 when it was about 4 billion miles away from Earth. The photograph showed Earth as a tiny dot. He used this image as the basis for a book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, and also as part of a commencement speech that he delivered in 1996. An excerpt has captured numerous people's imagination, and it has been interpreted in a variety of multimedia presentations. You are going to watch, analyze, and compare two of them. Each presentation lasts between about 3 and 6 minutes. Please watch both through once, and then go back and watch again while you analyze and take notes. To help you with your analysis, download the multimedia analysis chart and take notes as you watch. You will join a discussion on the next page to share your thoughts and analysis. Please watch the following two videos and analyze them (each video is different). Pay attention to the effect the various types of media has on you as you view and listen. Click on the following links to view the different presentations of Pale Blue Dot: Pale Blue Dot #1 Pale Blue Dot #2 1 4 4 18

Answer The audience would be viewers in their teens and older. They would be people who are likely to go to YouTube and who like to think while they are being entertained. Some of the presentations include historic images that are designed to create an emotional response. If the person viewing is not old enough, or does not recognize the images, some of the purpose may be lost. The purpose is to entertain and make people think about the meaning behind Carl Sagan's words. Answer The audience of both Beethoven Rocks and Dancing with Gregory Hines would be children who are old enough to read and write. The kind of images used, the size of the text, and the language used all indicate children as the audience, although older viewers might enjoy and learn from it as well. The purpose is to entertain and to teach. Answer Images, written text, recorded voice, and music were used. Viewers also were asked to interact by writing in one of the presentations and by clicking on things in the other. Yes, having this combination is effective for young learners. A variety of senses are being used, and they are asked to do something active as well, so this appeals to many ways of learning.

Exploring Multimedia Visual Images Curved wall of images, isolated on white background. So many images to choose from! Are all these presentations giving you good ideas for your own presentation? Are you getting excited about planning and creating one yourself? Have you thought about the piece of writing you might want to use? Remember that it is something you already wrote during the first three units of this class, so you will be able to focus on adding other media elements like visual images and sound. If visual images are used in a presentation, they must be chosen with great care. They can make or break a presentation! We will go into more depth on how to choose visual images in the next section when you are working on your own project. For now, enjoy what others have done with images. As you view each of the presentations, pay special attention to the visual effects. Consider how they fit with the writing, how they look on the page as you read, and the effect they have on you as a reader. Do they create a mood for you? You may already have viewed a couple of these; you may choose either to view again, this time paying attention to the images, or you can choose to view the new selections. View the following presentations. Sometimes Silence Speaks The Story of My Life A Poppy Gone Fishing Today is Lemonade Did the images fit the words? Did they add to the meaning and mood of the words? Answer These presentations are all collections of poetry by students. View Individual Poems and Some of my Haikus. What did you think of these images? Did they fit the words and add meaning and mood to them? Answer Let's take a look at one more collection of poetry: My Poetry Project. What do you think of the images in this presentation? Do they fit the poems and add meaning or mood to the presentation? Answer 1 9 9 18

Answer The images in all of these presentations matched the meaning and the tone of the presentation. All three have a serious tone, and the images are all photographs, which are more serious—and usually preferable—to clipart. In Sometimes Silence Speaks, the image of flowers (which act as a metaphor for human beings) works well to emphasize the words. In Rumi, the images match the words and compliment them. In The Story of My Life, the images put a face on the person whose story it is and help us connect with her. Answer The images chosen for both of these presentations create a visual picture of each poem's main idea. Most of the images don't add additional meaning but do emphasize the ideas and mood in the poems. In "Individual Poems," the picture of the empty staircase definitely helps create a mood of loneliness and emptiness, which is a theme in the poem. Answer The creators of these presentations tried to choose images that fit the poems, and they generally fit the topic of the poems. For example, a poem about tigers uses an image of a tiger. But these images don't add to the real meaning of the poems in any way. Many of them are placed behind the text which makes the poems difficult to read. The presentation called "Poems" uses a mixture of clipart and photos, which doesn't add to a smooth-flowing presentation.

Exploring Multimedia Purpose and Audience (continued) Young man giving a speech. Prepared to present to a patriotic audience Now, let's listen to Music of Greece. Please listen to at least half of the presentation. Click on the "Ancient Melodies" thumbnail in order to view the correct portion of the presentation. Who is the audience for this presentation? How do you know? What is the purpose? Answer What forms of media were used? Is the combination of media effective for the purpose and audience? Answer Now, view School Spirit. Who do you think the audience for this slideshow is? How can you tell? And what is the purpose? Answer So what have we learned? These choices seem to appeal most to children: Large font sizes. Fairly simple vocabulary. Colorful visual images. Voice recordings that are pleasant and positive sounding. Sections of voice recording should be short. Interactive elements. Many different types of media. These choices seem to appeal most to teenagers: Contemporary music as background. Visual images of teenagers, or video using teenagers. Scenes that move quickly from one to the other or slides that can be read quickly. Visual images that this age group would recognize symbolically - people or events that have happened in recent history. These choices seem to appeal most to adults: Classical music as background - or classic rock music depending on the topic. Scenes that move more slowly from one to the other. Visual images that this age group would recognize symbolically - this can include historic people or events. Longer sections of text, which adults generally have more patience to read - if it interests them. The specific choices you make with regard to audience and purpose will be important in creating a final unit project that is entertaining, informative, and that fulfills the requirements of the project. Be sure you use the information in this part as you develop your presentation! 1 7 7 18

Answer This is also aimed at a young audience, but probably teenagers or older. It is probably meant for teachers to use with students. Adults would also appreciate this presentation, especially adults who are interested in ancient Greece or in music. Because the topic is very specific, and because only sound is used, the audience is limited. Vocabulary is aimed at an older audience than The Nightingale and the length of the presentation is longer than most children would listen to. The purpose is to teach. Answer Only sound media were used — voice and music. The voice included more than one person. Perhaps you can answer whether or not the combination of media is effective. Did the use of sound alone allow you to focus more closely on the words and music, or do you think visual images would have added to the meaning, and therefore the purpose, of this presentation? Answer This presentation is aimed at teenagers. The topic deals with high school, the language is aimed at teenagers, and the editing moves quickly from one scene to the next. When there is music, it is music that would appeal to teenage audiences. The purpose is definitely to entertain!

Large font, simple vocabulary, and a combination of many types of media would be aimed at which audience ?

Children

The most important thing to remember when creating a presentations is

Communication

Ideas Did you think of any of the following? If not, add them to your list in your notebook: Graphic novel or comic book (created digitally). Illustrated children's book (created digitally). Video with people acting out the event. "Radio drama" - voice recording with different people acting parts from the memoir, including sound effects and background music. PowerPoint or other type of slideshow with illustrations. "Choose your own adventure" PowerPoint presentation.

Fiction

Slow instrumental background music and visual images of flowers contribute to what kind of tone and mood ?

Reflection

Sound effects like creaking doors and wind blowing, along with visual images of a dark house at night, contribute to what kind of tone and mood ?

Suspense

How is a story told in a graphic novel

Through dialogue and visual images

Exploring Multimedia Written Text Illuminated manuscript with illustrations of nobles and a mounted army approaching the rulers, a decorative colored border on the side of the page, and text. Medieval multimedia As you can see from this photo, even medieval monks created multimedia presentations when they painstakingly wrote and painted their illuminated manuscripts. And although the illustrations were gorgeous and created additional meaning to the stories being told, the important focusing element was always the text. Your text, whether written or spoken, will be the most important part of your presentation. It is the focus of what you are communicating to your audience. The other media used will help get your words across in a meaningful way, but the words themselves are most important. So what should be done with those words to get them to your audience in the most effective way? First, how much written text should you put in your presentation? Let's look at a few presentations. Try to pay attention only to the text rather than other aspects of the presentation. Read it, but also look at how it is placed in the presentation and how much is on each slide. Which example is most appealing to you? Which one invites you to continue reading? Why? Choose one of the presentations to view. Read at least three slides of the presentation and then, even if you choose not to read further, at least look over the remaining slides: Diane Cameron Poetry Collection Quantum Love Story What did you notice about the text in the presentation you viewed? Now, view at least one of the three presentations: A Story - My Story You can The Story of My Life What did you notice about the text in the presentation you viewed? If you wanted to take a longer piece of writing and limit the amount of text on your slides or pages, what could you do? Answer Finally, choose one of these presentations to view. These are graphic novels. Notice how the artists use text in their presentations. Life and Music of Roscoe Porter Pyramids of Mars Earthsong How is the text in this presentation used? What did you notice? What might need to be done to a story for it to be a good graphic novel? In general, it is a good idea to limit the amount of written text that is put on each slide of a slideshow presentation. A good alternative to using a lot of text is to add a voice recording to present longer pieces of dialogue. If you are creating a digital book, you can include more text, as readers expect to see that, and also because a page gives more space for text and images than a slide does. Next, let's look at how to best use images to make a multimedia presentation come alive. 1 8 8 18

What did you notice about the text in the presentation you viewed? There was quite a bit of text on each slide or page of the presentation. The text stood alone with few or no images. Depending on the presentation chosen, the font size may have changed from slide to slide. Were you interested in reading through the entire presentation? If not, it may be that you were overloaded with text. Generally, it is better to use less text on a slide to keep people interested and reading at a faster pace. What did you notice about the text in the presentation you viewed? There was little text on each slide - usually only one or two sentences. Did using text this way make you more or less interested in going to the next slide than the first presentation you viewed where there was more text on each slide? Answer You could record some of the text and only include key sentences as text. Or you could modify the writing and make it shorter while using strong visual images to help get the meaning across. How is the text in this presentation used? What did you notice? The text was mainly used for dialogue or possibly thoughts a character might be having. Any narration was shown by the images - and sometimes text was completely missing so the story was told completely through images. What might need to be done to a story for it to be a good graphic novel? The parts of a story that are told as narrative would be taken out and replaced with images. More dialogue might need to be added - and all dialogue would need to move the story forward, since the entire story will be told only through images and dialogue.

Exploring Multimedia Sound and Music Hands playing piano. Piano player As you have noticed in many of the presentations we have viewed so far, voice recording, sound effects, or music are often a part of the overall experience. When you get ready to create your own presentation - which is coming up very soon — one of the decisions you will make is whether to read and record part or all of your text out loud. Another decision will be to use background music or not. In fact, you may choose to use audio only (without images), maybe with a combination of voice and background music. Think about the different presentations you've viewed so far. Which have you enjoyed most? Did they include sound? What kind? Here are a few more presentations to view and listen to before beginning to work on your own project. Pay special attention to the voice recording and, if there is music, to the kind of music that is used. The following presentations. As you watch and listen, pay special attention to how the poem is read. Is the voice effective? Highwayman Smart Finally, choose one of the following presentations to view. These are all videos showing the poet reading or reciting his or her own poem. If you are interested in doing a recording of yourself reading your poem, you can do it as an audio recording rather than video, as long as you also include music. You might consider listening to one of these with your eyes closed to see whether the effect is different when you don't watch the person speaking. Half Caste Genre C-Span What did you notice about the way these poems were read? What can we learn about music from the presentations we've viewed so far? 1 10 10 18

What did you notice about the way these poems were read? They were read slowly, with pauses to allow the listener to think about the poem as it was being read. Some of these presentations included background music, which generally added to the mood of the poem. What can we learn about music from the presentations we've viewed so far? Music definitely adds to the mood of a presentation. If you want a happy mood, then cheerful background music contributes to that. If you want people to feel thoughtful or reflective, then soft, slow music is best. Also, the audience will respond differently to different kinds of music. Genres of music, such as jazz, country, or rap, will appeal to specific audiences. If lyrics are in the music, they should relate to the topic of the presentation or the audience could be confused about theme.

Multimedia Writing Unit Warm-Up: What Is Multimedia? What exactly is media? What kinds of things are considered media? So, what is multimedia? Complete the activity to see examples of multimedia. As you will see, examples of multimedia are all around you! As you can see, media surrounds us — and most of the media we are used to is actually a combination of many forms of media all designed to work together in order to sell, entertain, or inform us. In this unit, we will start by exploring some of the ways people have put media together as presentations. Then, you will have the opportunity to create your own multimedia presentation. 1 4 4

What exactly is media? Media is the plural form of the word medium. Although both words have a variety of meanings, the meaning we are interested in is "A form (or forms) of mass communication." What kinds of things are considered media? The obvious things include: newspapers, magazines, television, Internet - things that present information. But art, photography, literature, movies, and music are also forms of media. They all communicate ideas and thoughts as well as information to people.

Creating a Multimedia Presentation Section Objectives After you have completed this section, you will be able to: Apply the writing process for adapting works of memoir, fiction, or poetry to a multimedia presentation: drafting, self-review, peer review. Apply knowledge of U.S. copyright laws for literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works. Select an appropriate multimedia format through which to present your written work: -Read the work aloud and make an mp3. -Use PowerPoint or other slideshow program to create a photo slideshow to represent the piece. -Represent the piece in Word, incorporating graphics. Apply found text, images, and/or sound from various sources to create a multimedia draft of their written work. Apply self-review criteria to your multimedia productions and plan revisions. Share a draft of the multimedia presentation with peers with the goal of getting revision feedback. 1 2 2 16

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Loud background music with a strong beat and scenes that change rapidly from one to the other will apppeal most to which audience

teenagers

Creating a Multimedia Presentation Choosing Effective Images You have had some practice analyzing a number of presentations for the visual images they contained. Now it's time to begin choosing your own images. How are you going to choose the right images for your project? This activity will help get you started. View the presentation as often as you would like and be sure to take notes as you follow along. Download script as a PDF. 1 5 5 16 Learning Tools

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Copyright and Documentation Photo of a CD with a chain and a lock. An anti-piracy concept. Always respect copyright protection. By now you are looking for images, music, and maybe other things to use in your presentation. Visual images, text, and even music are widely available on the Internet. All you have to do is put a keyword into a search engine, using the search images option, and you'll see a long list of images from which to choose. So is it okay to copy the ones you want and use them in your presentation? The answer to that question is both yes and no, and the yes has a 'but' after it. First, it's important to realize that all original work—photographs, drawings, and animations as well as music and text—is protected by U.S. copyright laws, even if there is no text on the site stating that copyright exists. That should always be kept in mind as you search the Internet for the perfect photograph or animated image. So how can we have both yes and no answers? YES If you are creating a presentation only for a class assignment (such as this one) and do not publish it in a public place, you may use items found on the Internet BUT only if the source is documented. NO If you decide you want to publish your presentation anywhere for the public to view, including YouTube or any networking site, you may not legally use images that you find on another website, unless you do one of the following: Contact the copyright owner (the creator of the original webpage with the image or other item) and ask for permission to use the item. Do not use it until you receive permission. Find items labeled as existing in Public Domain. You may use these freely as they are no longer protected by copyright. You should still always document where these items were found. It is important as you do your searching for your multimedia presentation that you keep track of all sources for the items you might use. You will be asked to submit a Works Cited page with your project. To help you keep track, use the Image and Sound Organizer as you search for images and other items for your project. Now go to the next page to learn more about choosing images. 1 4 4 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Creating a Multimedia Presentation: Introduction "Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun." —Mary Lou Cook, Peace activist, minister and author Three adorable kids with hands covered in paint. Children getting creative When children create, they take Mary Lou Cook's advice to heart without even thinking about it. As you create in this section, consider doing the same. First of all, have fun. Take some risks - try things that you've never done before. Experiment. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and revise things as you go. The more deeply you throw yourself into the creative process, the more you will grow. In this section, as you develop your multimedia presentation, we will explore in more depth the use of visual images, voice recording, and more. Keep thinking about how you can go further with what you learn. You may not be using all the types of media that we discuss here but learn about them anyway. Not only will you be expected to know the information presented, but it will help you with future projects. And, above all, have fun! 1 1 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Looking at Text Fonts Let's look at just a few font examples. What kind of tone do you think these fonts might contribute to? Select answer to see how close your idea is. font style is comic sans which is a sans serif font with rounded letters Answer example of Lucida Calligraphy font which is elegant and somewhat loopy Answer example of Lucida Handwriting font which resemble long handwriting Answer example of Showcard Gothic font which is all capitals with thick letters that are darker at the top Answer example of Old English Text which is embellished with additional lines example of Baby Huffy font which is thick and dark black with puffy letters Answer examples of four fonts: the first is Arial and the second is Lucida Sans both sans serif fonts. The third and fourth fonts are Times New Roman and Georgia which are serif fonts Answer When you put your project together, play around with different fonts, but always remember that effective communication is most important. Be sure the text is easy to read and not distracting. Then decide whether it also works to add to your tone or theme. 1 11 11 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Multimedia Production Quiz Congratulations on completing this section! In this section, you learned about: Applying the writing process for adapting works of memoir, fiction, or poetry to multimedia presentation: drafting, self-review, peer review. Understanding and applying knowledge of U.S. copyright laws. Selecting an appropriate multimedia format through which to present your written work. Applying found text, images, and/or sound from various sources to create a multimedia draft of your written work. Applying self-review criteria to your multimedia productions and plan revisions. Sharing a draft of your multimedia presentation with peers with the goal of getting revision feedback. Now it's time to take the section quiz. Please check your understanding of the topics above before proceeding to take the quiz. After you have completed the quiz, continue with the unit. 1 16 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Peer Review Discussion: Multimedia Project Step 1: When you are ready for peer review, go to the Peer Review Discussion: Multimedia Project discussion link. Attach your project to your post. In the comment section, let readers know if there is something specific you would like them to help you with. Step 2: Everyone should receive and give at least two feedback responses. Respond to other writers as soon as possible. They will be waiting for your response. To make this work, please choose two students who have not had two responses (unless all students available already have two responses; in that case, you can be the third or fourth responder). Before viewing the presentations, check the students' comments. What do they want you to look for? Then view the posted presentations very carefully. View each one at least twice. Pay attention to the excellent aspects as well as what the writer could work on. Your response to the writer should include all parts of the following Peer Review Guidelines: I especially like ... because ... The mood I feel when I view your presentation is ... The theme, or meaning, I get from your presentation is ... I noticed effective use of these media ... (List specific examples and describe why they are used effectively.) I think you could work on these two main things ... (These could include specific media or the overall appearance of the presentation. If you are referring to a specific page or slide, be sure to give it a number or otherwise identify it.) Three specific suggestions I have are ... The more specific you are with your comments and your suggestions, the more helpful you will be to the writer. And the more positive you are about the writer's strengths, the more the writer will be able to accept your constructive suggestions. Remember, your job here is to help this writer grow and become a stronger writer! Step 3: After you receive feedback, read it carefully. If there is anything in the feedback you don't understand, respond and ask for clarification. Sometimes this follow-up discussion can offer more than the original feedback did. Try to avoid justifying why you did things the reader may not have liked. It is usually best to take the suggestions, think about them for a while, and then decide whether you feel there is merit in them or not without trying to explain. For grading information on this peer review discussion, please see the Peer Review Discussion Rubric for this course. 1 14 14 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Putting It All Together Puzzle pieces Putting the pieces together It's time to put your project together. If you haven't quite decided on the format you'd like to use, here are some thoughts: Slideshows Slideshows allow you to add text, visual images, music, and/or voice recording; although in PowerPoint, it is important to remember that you cannot have both voice and music playing at the same time. They probably will work best for shorter pieces of writing or if some of the writing is given as a voice recording rather than text. Slideshow programs Microsoft PowerPoint — For more information on how to use audio with PowerPoint, visit on one of the following websites: Background music Recording voice — Open PowerPoint. Click Help and look for Voice Narration. Microsoft Photo Story 3 — Download this easy-to-use program free. Word Processing Word processing programs like Microsoft Word allow you to include text and images but not sound. This is a good choice for longer pieces of writing when you are not interested in using sound, although a music file could be sent with the Word document as suggested background music. This is a good choice for graphic novels and children's books, which can either be created online or, if images are drawn by hand, scanned and saved as Word or .jpg files. Audio Audio programs allow you to record your voice and include background music but not text or visual images. This is a good choice if you would like the vocal reading of your work to be most important while accompanied with background music or if you are turning a poem into a song and singing. Download Audacity a free audio program. For help with using Audacity, visit the Orientation in this class. Now go out and fit your puzzle pieces together! Before going to the next page, make sure you have a draft of your project put together. 1 12 12 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Searching for Images A man looking through a telescope. Searching for the ideal image You have an idea of the kind of images you want to use. Where will you find them? There are plenty of options available. If you are a photographer, consider taking your own pictures and scanning them. Or if you are writing a memoir and have photographs of the event and people involved, use those. If you are an artist, you may want to sketch your own images, especially if you are creating a graphic novel or children's book. But you don't have to be a photographer or an artist to have great images, and you also don't have to do an Internet search and use copyrighted work. The following list presents websites that offer photographs for your use. Remember, they are free and available, but you must document the sources of all photographs you use! Keep track of them in your Image and Sound Organizer. All of these sites allow you to search for specific types of images. Cepolina Photos — This site has mostly photographs dealing with nature and geography, including animals, mountains, clouds, flowers, sea, and fireworks. Free Digital Photos — This site has hundreds of photographs that are free to download and use. Imagerie — This site has more than 24,000 photographs from around the world. The photographs are put into categories that allow for easy browsing. morgueFile —This site also has hundreds of images available. Stock.xchng — This site has over 100,000 photographs posted by over 9,000 photographers. Lots to choose from! If you are not planning to use images in your project, don't worry. We'll be looking at sound next! 1 6 6 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Section Warm-Up Remember going through the writing process with Ryan and Jenny? In this warm-up, walk them through the process again, this time with your multimedia project in mind. Just as with prose and poetry writing, putting together a multimedia project requires a process that includes all of these steps. You've done some brainstorming, helped along by looking at plenty of examples. In this section, you'll start working through the next part of the process, revising, and you will get your mind moving just like Jenny's and Ryan's! Download script as a PDF. 1 3 3 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Self-Review You now have a draft and are almost ready to ask your peers for feedback. Before you do that, take time to review it carefully yourself. View your presentation as if you were the audience. First view it to get a whole impression. Write yourself notes as you view. Then view it a few more times and focus on one aspect of the presentation each time. Here's a checklist to follow as you review: Writing Is everything spelled correctly? Is the writing divided between slides or pages in a way that makes sense? If you cut or added anything to the original writing, does it flow and include all details necessary? Is the font easy to read? Have you used the same font in the entire presentation? If not, have you made that decision with careful thought and reason? Images Do the images fit the tone of the writing? Do the images contribute to the meaning of the writing? Will the images appeal to your audience? Are the images placed on the page or slide attractively and so they don't distract from the text? Background Music Does the music fit the tone of the writing? Will the music appeal to your audience? Does it work correctly? If the viewer needs to click something to start the music, are written instructions provided? Voice Recording Does the pacing match the writing? Is it slower when you want your audience to slow down and faster when there is action? Are there enough pauses so the audience has time to think, and also to emphasize parts of the text? Is vocal expression added? Are all words clearly articulated and understandable? Is the volume loud enough and consistent? Citation Do you have sources documented for everything in your presentation that you didn't create? You do not have to post this for peer review, but you will create a Works Cited page using this information before submitting your final draft to your teacher. When you can answer 'yes' to all of the sections that apply to your project, you are ready for the next step: Peer Review! 1 13 13 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Sound: Background Music Teen boy listening to music on headphones. Discovering new music One of the best ways to get a good feeling about music and how it works is to watch television commercials, paying close attention to the background music. Of course, since you are surrounded by music—both background music and music that you choose to focus on—you probably already have a pretty good understanding of the effect that certain kinds of music can have. Tone When you are choosing background music, first think about the tone of your presentation and the mood you want to create. What mood does the music create in you? Then think of the meaning of your words. If you want your audience to really focus on your words, consider using music without lyrics. On the other hand, a song that has a similar theme to your words may strengthen your overall theme. Audience Finally, think of your audience. Music used as background can appeal to a wider audience than similar music that is meant to be focused on. But there are types of music that will not work well with certain audiences, so it is important that you think about each music choice very carefully. Remember to add any music you are thinking about using to your Image and Sound Organizer. If your music is on a CD that you own, include that copyright information rather than website information. Your music sources will be included in your Works Cited page. Go to the next page to listen to some music clips that create specific tone and reach certain audiences. 1 7 7 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation Speaking Skills Background music is not the only sound media available for presentations. You may have chosen to record yourself reading. If you are using a voice recording in your project, it is important to use good speaking skills. If you are not using voice recording, please watch the tutorial anyway. Not only will you be expected to know the information, but you may use it in the next presentation you create. And, who knows, you may be inspired to add voice to this one! View the activity as often as you would like, and take notes as you follow along. Download script as a PDF. 1 9 9 16

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Creating a Multimedia Presentation The Text Chinese hieroglyph love drawn with black ink and brush Text is the most important part of your presentation Written text should be treated like an image. It has visual appeal for the audience and will either complement or detract from your tone and message. As you decide how to adapt your poem, story, or memoir into multimedia format, here are some good things to keep in mind. Let's look at an example of a slideshow with text. We'll pretend that Elizabeth Barrett Browning came back to life and put together a little slideshow of her poem "How Do I Love Thee?" She was pretty excited about how many different fonts there were to choose from and decided she wanted to do each section of her poem in a font that kind of matched what the lines were saying. As you can see, she got a little carried away with images as well, but let's just think about her text. Why do you think this is an ineffective use of fonts and sizes? Tone and Theme? What do fonts have to do with tone and theme? Go on to the next page to look at some type examples and the effects they create. 1 10 10 16

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Exploring Multimedia Exploring Multimedia: Introduction Top part of a face looking up with a spiral superimposed. The Art of Creating "We are all cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." —Ray Bradbury This section is all about exploring what other people have created. We will look at a variety of multimedia presentations and analyze what makes them work (or not work so well). Then, you will choose one of the writing pieces you wrote during the first three units and begin to plan a multimedia presentation of your own around that writing. You will have a lot of choices regarding your final project. It could look similar to one of the presentations you look at in this section, or you can come up with an entirely new idea of your own. Your creativity will be the limit. By the end of this section, you will have completed a storyboard or script for your presentation, and you will be ready to pull all your ideas together and create! 1 1 18

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Exploring Multimedia Section Objectives After you have completed this section, you will be able to: View and respond to examples of multimedia presentations: audio, video, PowerPoint. Analyze examples of multimedia texts to understand style, presentation, and development of projects. Apply the writing process for adapting works of memoir, fiction, or poetry to a multimedia presentation: generative writing and drafting. Apply skills that show an awareness of audience and achieve a clear purpose, making use of tone and mood. 1 2 2 18

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Exploring Multimedia Section Warm-Up: Your Experience With Multimedia Presentations Take out your writing notebook and date it. Respond to the following questions: What multimedia presentations have you created, if any? Were you pleased with them? Why or why not? What do you know about creating multimedia presentations? What technologies are you comfortable with? What do you want to know and learn about creating multimedia presentations? 1 3 3 18

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Multimedia Writing Unit Assignments In this unit you will complete the following graded assignments: Discussion: Pale Blue Dot — 20 points Writing Assignment: Script or Storyboard Submission — 50 points Elements of Multimedia Design Quiz — 30 points Peer Review Discussion: Multimedia Project — 30 points Multimedia Production Quiz — 30 points Discussion: Sharing and Celebrating — 20 points Writing Assignment: Unit Project — Multimedia Presentation — 100 points Please download the unit assignment checklist to track your completion of all major assignments throughout the unit. 1 3 3 4

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Multimedia Writing Unit Objectives After you have completed this unit, you will be able to: View and respond to examples of multimedia presentations. Analyze examples of multimedia texts to understand style, presentation, and development of projects. Apply the writing process for adapting works of memoir, fiction, or poetry to multimedia presentation. Apply skills that show an awareness of audience and achieve a clear purpose, making use of tone and mood. Select an appropriate multimedia format through which to present written work. Apply found text, images, and/or sound from various sources to create a multimedia draft of their written work. Apply knowledge of U.S. copyright laws for literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works. Apply self-review criteria to multimedia productions and plan revisions. Share a draft of the multimedia presentation with peers to receive revision feedback. Evaluate the audience's response and plan revisions to the presentation according to peer feedback. Apply revisions to multimedia project, revising for clarity, purpose, and effect. Apply editing skills using the conventions of language, including correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. Present finished presentation on discussion board or blog. Apply reflective writing to examine changes and the reasons for them. Revisit, expand, and develop personal writing goals for the course. 1 2 2 4

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Discussion: Sharing and Celebrating Four happy teenagers jumping Whoo hoo! We did it! Before submitting to your teacher, post your final project to the Discussion: Sharing and Celebrating link. This is a great opportunity for you to share your presentation with the class and for you to view other final presentations. This presentation is not meant as a peer review but rather as a sharing opportunity. Please view several students' presentations and respond to at least two with positive feedback on what they have done well. Don't forget to congratulate your fellow students on their terrific work! For grading guidelines, please refer to the Discussion Rubric for this course. 1 11 11 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Editing A film editor looking at a roll of movie film After editing, your piece of art is ready to publish! You have now done everything you can to establish tone, get the right mood across to your audience, and create a strong theme. But wait, that's not all! If you have grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, that can also affect how your audience perceives your presentation. So before submitting to your teacher, and before posting for the rest of the class to view, take the time to read through everything very carefully and edit. Use the following checklist as you read: Are all words spelled correctly? Are the correct words used? Pay special attention to words like: there, they're, their and other homophones (words pronounced the same but with different meanings and possibly different spellings). Is the writing grammatically correct? Check one more time for visual impact. Is everything placed on the page or slide in the best and most effective way? Is your Works Cited page at the end of the presentation, or on a separate document if you are submitting a voice recording? Is the Works Cited page correctly formatted? If you are submitting a voice recording, is everything clear and understandable? Does all technology work? When you can answer 'yes' to all of these questions, you are ready to publish! But first, a little self-reflection. 1 9 9 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Multimedia Project Self-Reflection A bird looking at its reflection in the water. Reflecting Before submitting your presentation, take some time to reflect on your learning, your process, and your final project. Get out your Writer's Notebook and review the goals you have been working on. Although this project involved more than writing, and in fact did not ask you to do additional writing, it gave you the opportunity to create something that could allow you to publicly share your writing. As you reflect on your goals, think about what you have learned about presenting to an audience. In a document titled "My Writing Goals," answer the following questions: In what ways has your writing grown with this project? Have you met any of the goals you made for yourself earlier in this class? How? Describe. What do you still want to work on? What new goals do you have for yourself? Writing Assignment: Multimedia Self Reflection After reflecting in your notebook, please download the Self-Reflection chart. Save it on your computer, then respond to the questions with details. This will be submitted with the final draft of your project and will be used by your teacher to help evaluate it. 1 10 10 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Revision Mosaic pieces. A little more rearranging Revising writing is difficult! Revising a multimedia presentation is even more difficult, because it feels finished once you have put all the elements together. But if it is not reaching its audience or meeting its purpose, then changes really should be made. Here are some suggestions to help. What if the tone and mood aren't coming across? What if the theme isn't coming across? What if the overall look of the presentation needs to be worked on? Even though you may resist making some of these changes, you will be very happy once you do it. Your audience will be too! 1 8 8 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Section Objectives After you have completed this section, you will be able to: Apply the writing process for adapting works of memoir, fiction, or poetry to multimedia presentation: peer review, revision, and editing. Evaluate the audience's response and plan revisions to the presentation according to peer feedback. Apply revisions to multimedia project, revising for clarity, purpose, and effect. Apply editing skills using the conventions of language, including correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. Present finished presentation on discussion board or blog. Apply reflective writing to examine changes and the reasons for them. Revisit, expand, and develop personal writing goals for the course. 1 2 2 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Section Warm-Up: Process and Frustrations Take out your Writing Notebook and do a little writing about your process so far. Specifically, write about some of the frustrations you have had. Did you have a hard time finding items that fit your writing? Did you have difficulty with the technology you tried to use? Write down a few personal technology or multimedia goals. While these are not writing goals, they are things you should consider working on as you will probably be creating many multimedia productions in your lifetime. You may want to include these goals later in this section when you revisit your writing goals. 1 3 3 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Sharing a Multimedia Presentation: Introduction "It seems to me that the deeper, truer personality of the artist only emerges in the making of decisions ... in refusing and accepting, changing and revising." —Bridget Riley, British painter of optical illusions Two horses almost at the end of a race. Almost there! You are on the home stretch! Your draft is being reviewed, and you can take a few breaths before working on it again. As with any writing or creative project, it's a good idea to put your work away for a day or two so you can look at it with fresh eyes. Now is the chance to do that. This section will help you through the revision process once you get your feedback. Remember that just as with your poetry or fiction, revising your multimedia project is an important step in creating the best possible experience for you and for those who see your finished product. 1 1 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Using Peer Feedback Two businessmen clapping Good job ... but just a few suggestions ... You should now have feedback from at least two people. As always, the more feedback, the better, so have friends and family review your presentation as well. Try to avoid justifying yourself for the choices you made, but do ask clarifying questions if you don't understand suggestions or comments. Once you have as much feedback as you can get, read through it carefully and go through the following checklist: First, congratulate yourself for the things you did that appealed to your reviewers. Then, look at the things that they suggest you work on. Did your reviewers feel the mood you wanted them to as they viewed your presentation? If so, good job!! If not, look carefully at your images. Could they be changed to do a better job of contributing to the mood you want? Listen to your background music if you have it. Could that be changed? If three reviewers were right on with the mood they felt, and one was not, you probably are doing fine. Individuals may not all respond in the same way, which is why it is helpful to get as many people giving feedback as you can. How about theme or meaning? If more than one reviewer did not get your theme, then you should probably look at your words—both written and spoken. Did you take too much out when you modified your writing for the presentation? Is the voice recording, if you have one, easy to understand and to stay focused on? If you have background music with lyrics, do they match the theme of your writing? Look at the suggestions given for improvement. Are you seeing similar suggestions from more than one reviewer? If so, consider making some changes. Finally, realize that you are the creator and you must make final decisions. Realize also that presentations are meant by definition to be viewed and enjoyed by an audience. If your purpose is not being met for that audience, then you probably should make some changes. 1 7 7 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Works Cited Examples Click on each item below to see how to format that Works Cited entry in your list: Website Song on a CD Book A photograph taken by someone besides yourself If you have a source that is not listed here, read more about MLA format for citing sources at the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue. You may notice that titles, such as book and CD titles, are italicized here. If you were turning in a printed paper, these titles should be underlined. But because underlined items on the Internet are used to indicate links to other pages, we have used italics rather than underlining the titles. Now you've typed up your entries. It's time to format them correctly. Your items should be listed in alphabetical order, based on the first word in the item list. That first word is often the author, but if there is no author known, use the next word, which will usually be the title. Each item should begin on the left margin of the page or slide. If the item goes into a second line, indent the second line five spaces, and do the same with each additional line. If the url of a website is very long, try to divide it where there is a slash ( / ). See an example of a correctly formatted Works Cited page This page is important! Be sure to format it correctly and include every source you used in your presentation. 1 5 5 12

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Sharing a Multimedia Presentation Works Cited Page Teen boy typing on a computer. Creating a works cited page While you are waiting for your peer review feedback, put together your Works Cited page. If you have created a slideshow, add another slide at the end and call it Works Cited. If your project is a Microsoft Word document, add a new page at the end. If you created an audio recording, type your Works Cited page on a Word document and submit it with your recording. The page should have the title Works Cited centered at the top of the page, and the contents on the page should all be double-spaced, so they are easy to read and reference. Now take out your Image and Sound Organizer. You should have all of your images, music, and other items that you are using listed. If you haven't done so already, mark the items that you actually put into your presentation. Next, type or copy and paste each source that you used onto your Works Cited page. Make sure that all sources used are listed. See the next page for examples to help you format the page correctly. 1 4 4 12

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Student Self-Publishing unit_intro_image "To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and to get sensible people to read it are the three great difficulties in being an author." —Charles Caleb Colton, English cleric, collector and writer who lived from 1780-1832 The ultimate destination for most writers in their writing journey is publication, whether it is posting a poem or story on a blog or sending it in to a contest. Most often in classroom writing, publishing goes only as far as turning written work in to the teacher. We will go a step further in this unit as you will choose one of your pieces of writing to really polish up and submit for a class anthology. As you look at your writing with the thought of publishing, you will also analyze your own writing style. Are there certain techniques you tend to use often? Do similar themes pop up in much of your writing? Are there things you do that you don't intend? Do you make certain writing errors repeatedly? Being able to analyze your own style will help you grow as a writer and will also help you understand which audiences might appreciate your writing. This unit will begin with an exploration of the publishing world inside and outside the classroom. We will explore publishing terminology as well as the process of submitting work for consideration. Then you'll prepare a piece of your writing for publication in our class anthology. 1 1 4 Learning Tools

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