I really enjoyed making my video. Initially, my confusion about the goal of the project was overwhelming, but I eventually figured it out and got to work. I’ve made a video or two in the past and I’ve always enjoyed the creative process. I think it’s fun to see something that’s genuinely mine.
At first it was sort of unclear to me what we were supposed to learn in this unit, but I think I get it now. I learned how the storytelling mode of communication can convey information in a different way, other than the typical academic, argumentative mode. I suppose I knew that stories have the potential to teach others, but I hadn’t really considered the benefits of using the storytelling mode over the academic. I once watched a TED conference in which a philosopher was explaining what makes Peter Singer such a convincing philosopher. The point was that Singer evokes emotion and doesn’t stick to the textbook argument from evidence. He tells stories of slaughter houses and other emotional scenes that have an ability to persuade way beyond argumentative prose. Another benefit to storytelling is allegory. I had to read The Divine Comedy a few semesters ago and the whole point was to convey deeper truths with imagery and storytelling. Another popular example is the parables of Jesus: he conveyed deeper truths about life in a more relatable way by using more mundane truths like trees and fruit, seeds and trees, bankers and the indebted. So, in a nutshell, I think I learned how powerful and underrated the storytelling mode is.
One other “takeaway” I got from this unit was the importance of decision making in a story to convey one’s beliefs. We all know that you’ll know the tree by its fruit, but I guess I really saw that in action when I was trying to convey someone’s belief indirectly. I realized that the best way to convey my character’s belief was to just emphasize the decision that took place. With knowledge of the character’s choice of action, I knew the viewer would be able to decipher the character’s belief. I didn’t have to explicitly say, “Cassie thought it was best for Leonard to go to the Humane Society and find a different family. She loved him, and out of her altruism wanted what was best for him, even if that meant personal sacrifice.” I instead said, “Cassie made the decision to take Leonard to the Humane Society.”
All in all, it was a fun project and I’m curious to see what’s next.
Charles Golden 