Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Digital Storytelling had gained more attention in recent years as people begin to realize its narrative power in visual effects. As stated in “Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games a Waste of Time?” that “…words and images of various sorts are juxtaposed and integrated in a various ways” and “in the modern world, language is not the only important communicational system.” (J Gee, 13) That is to say, ideas and meanings are conveyed in various ways nowadays. And various multimodality can work together, thus sometimes the weakness of stories can be strengthened by technologies.
Introduction
I Think of You is told by a mother named Ann Guido, whose son enlisted himself in the army service. The URL is http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4 . Through this 2’37’’ video clip, the mom expresses her missing of her son, by presenting only 17 pictures, which means every picture stays a relatively longer time. There is a soft song, serving as the background music and the mom talks from the beginning to the end, just like speaking to her son directly, to tell him how the family miss him. Among the 17 images, six were taken during his army service, eight were from his childhood and the other three are a picture of his sister, a handrail on the stairs and a piece of torn newspaper without repetition. No video clips, other sound effects or even written words are employed by Ann; however, she successfully integrates the music, her own voice and pictures to make them a touching story.
The theme of the video is quite simple, the relation of an oldest with his mom. However, it may easily rouse response to the other moms whose sons are away from home for various reasons and to the boys who miss their moms too. I am touched by Ann’s voice and some of the pictures she presents. She does not cry or even show a sweeping voice, but she just talks in a kindly and smooth fashion with the even pace. The images touch me because they show a strong contrast between the son as a kid and as a solder. He was a very cute boy, playing by himself with fun, and we can predict a happy childhood; however, he is such a grown up man with a huge gun on his shoulder and some dirt or mask on his face. I don’t think he is as happy as he was young and maybe his mom feels in the same way.
The best part of a digital storytelling is that through the images, words, sounds, videos, meanings are conveyed to achieve communication purposes. The modalities used should be served to help viewers better understand the story, to make up what traditional storytelling cannot do. This piece is a good example. Sometimes we may see some video clips for a couple of times without managing to get what it is about, like some commercial ads, even though the pictures and sound effects are very attracting. I am going to analyze the video in terms of how the semiotic patterns relate to each other and their functions; how the images help the narration to present a clearer meaning; and how the generic structure of Narrative are defined.
The title---I Think of You
I kept thinking why Ann did not title her story I Miss You but I Think of You. The purpose of the video is to express her missing and worrying of her son, so I Miss You would be considered as a much more proper title, however, after a second though, I guess I Think of You shows more meanings. Missing is an abstract emotional feeling but thinking of shows the mom cares his son regarding his life as a solder, which means she does think a lot about him and it’s much deeper.
The title (picture 1)stayed on the screen for five seconds with a black ground, which shows the mood when Ann thinks of her son, being worried and maybe gloomy. The title is placed at the bottom of the screen as the “thinking of” is from the base of her heart. The size of the words are not very big and not all the words are bold and capitalized like I THINK OF YOU, because moms always think it is natural to do so and there is not necessary to make it in this way as to manifest to the world that I think of my own son. If it is a story told by a girl about the relation with her boyfriend, I guess I MISS YOU will be used.
The orientation
According to Masamichi Washitake “Orientation in a narration serves to create a context for understanding what is to flow in the subsequent stages of the genre and orient the reader to what is to follow.” (2004:176) The orientation of this story is presented by the first picture and two sentences starting with: “I think of you”. The first image show three solders sitting on the ground and with the narration goes on, one of them (the son) is zoomed and the image becomes bigger. I have the feeling that the mom is talking to her son directly to say “I miss you and I cannot stand it”.
The complication
The mom tells the thoughts from the families like his sister, his father and from the mom herself. The images change when she refers to different people and that determines how long the picture stays. For the 12 seconds his sister picture is shown, the intimate relation between a brother and a sister is revealed. “Your sister can only sleep with you under her pillow. She begs for your protection and a little whispers, hopes that you bring no bones.” The smiling picture of his sister helps us to image how much the little girl relies on her elder brother.
Two images are used when his father is mentioned. One is from the barrack and the other of his childhood. We may predict that his father always worries of his life as a solder and that relates to the time when he was at home, especially when he was young. This is the first time that his childhood picture is shown, and he is smiling; on the other hand, on the previous pictures taken with military uniform and gun, he looks serious. Maybe that’s why his dad said “he invaded his blank sleep”.
When talking about his leaving, the mom employs a picture of steel handrail on the stairs to illustrate “how hard that might be”, because it’s hard for a mom to accept the fact that her boy is going to the army and she prefers to think he has gone for an entrance ceremony. So the picture had a double meaning, being hard to accept the truth as a mom and his hard life as a solder.
Two pictures of the mom and son together present their past happy life with another two solo pictures (Picture 2 & 3), one with a gun and the other with a mask. The eyes show his gallantry and also his wish to return home.
The torn newspaper is the other no hominine image. The newspaper is about the army for which he is serving. We may see that how unwilling his mom was when he left for the service. And she could have been the one who tear the papers.
The coda
The story ends with two childhood pictures which response to the lyrics: “I simply cannot get you out of my mind.” The little boy looks at the distance on the last image, while he may not predict that his future belongs to the brigade. Her mom relates this picture to his life in the marines as “the aims without wisdom; fairs without thinking”.
Conclusion
The pictures of a happy child may not go along well with the image of a solder, if no relevant information is provided. However, this story sounds so natural and the contrast of the images helps us to better understand the inner struggle of the author. If we simply listen to a narration without music and pictures, we may not get the deep meaning of it, and the narrator may need to explain something out of the story. While when we put the modalities together, we can understand more by presented images only or words only. That is the power of narration with image effects.
Another feature of this piece is that all the pictures are black and white, which may reflect the mood of the mom and the life as a solder, which are both grey. There are certain times the image of the solder son is enlarged and zoomed to the face. I guess that explains the mom really wants to see her son and talk to him face to face.
Limitations
The background music to me does not contribute more to the effect of the whole story, maybe because it is too weak and plain without many high tones. Actually the narration and images together are clear enough for meaning. Thus personally I think it would be better if the music can help more with the meaning convey.
Another thing is the pairing with the narration and pictures. Sometimes the pictures stay longer than necessary. For example, the story has already changed to his father’s side, while the sister’s picture still stays for another three more seconds. (33-36’’) That could be improved to be more precise.
Introduction
I Think of You is told by a mother named Ann Guido, whose son enlisted himself in the army service. The URL is http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4 . Through this 2’37’’ video clip, the mom expresses her missing of her son, by presenting only 17 pictures, which means every picture stays a relatively longer time. There is a soft song, serving as the background music and the mom talks from the beginning to the end, just like speaking to her son directly, to tell him how the family miss him. Among the 17 images, six were taken during his army service, eight were from his childhood and the other three are a picture of his sister, a handrail on the stairs and a piece of torn newspaper without repetition. No video clips, other sound effects or even written words are employed by Ann; however, she successfully integrates the music, her own voice and pictures to make them a touching story.
The theme of the video is quite simple, the relation of an oldest with his mom. However, it may easily rouse response to the other moms whose sons are away from home for various reasons and to the boys who miss their moms too. I am touched by Ann’s voice and some of the pictures she presents. She does not cry or even show a sweeping voice, but she just talks in a kindly and smooth fashion with the even pace. The images touch me because they show a strong contrast between the son as a kid and as a solder. He was a very cute boy, playing by himself with fun, and we can predict a happy childhood; however, he is such a grown up man with a huge gun on his shoulder and some dirt or mask on his face. I don’t think he is as happy as he was young and maybe his mom feels in the same way.
The best part of a digital storytelling is that through the images, words, sounds, videos, meanings are conveyed to achieve communication purposes. The modalities used should be served to help viewers better understand the story, to make up what traditional storytelling cannot do. This piece is a good example. Sometimes we may see some video clips for a couple of times without managing to get what it is about, like some commercial ads, even though the pictures and sound effects are very attracting. I am going to analyze the video in terms of how the semiotic patterns relate to each other and their functions; how the images help the narration to present a clearer meaning; and how the generic structure of Narrative are defined.
The title---I Think of You
I kept thinking why Ann did not title her story I Miss You but I Think of You. The purpose of the video is to express her missing and worrying of her son, so I Miss You would be considered as a much more proper title, however, after a second though, I guess I Think of You shows more meanings. Missing is an abstract emotional feeling but thinking of shows the mom cares his son regarding his life as a solder, which means she does think a lot about him and it’s much deeper.
The title (picture 1)stayed on the screen for five seconds with a black ground, which shows the mood when Ann thinks of her son, being worried and maybe gloomy. The title is placed at the bottom of the screen as the “thinking of” is from the base of her heart. The size of the words are not very big and not all the words are bold and capitalized like I THINK OF YOU, because moms always think it is natural to do so and there is not necessary to make it in this way as to manifest to the world that I think of my own son. If it is a story told by a girl about the relation with her boyfriend, I guess I MISS YOU will be used.
The orientation
According to Masamichi Washitake “Orientation in a narration serves to create a context for understanding what is to flow in the subsequent stages of the genre and orient the reader to what is to follow.” (2004:176) The orientation of this story is presented by the first picture and two sentences starting with: “I think of you”. The first image show three solders sitting on the ground and with the narration goes on, one of them (the son) is zoomed and the image becomes bigger. I have the feeling that the mom is talking to her son directly to say “I miss you and I cannot stand it”.
The complication
The mom tells the thoughts from the families like his sister, his father and from the mom herself. The images change when she refers to different people and that determines how long the picture stays. For the 12 seconds his sister picture is shown, the intimate relation between a brother and a sister is revealed. “Your sister can only sleep with you under her pillow. She begs for your protection and a little whispers, hopes that you bring no bones.” The smiling picture of his sister helps us to image how much the little girl relies on her elder brother.
Two images are used when his father is mentioned. One is from the barrack and the other of his childhood. We may predict that his father always worries of his life as a solder and that relates to the time when he was at home, especially when he was young. This is the first time that his childhood picture is shown, and he is smiling; on the other hand, on the previous pictures taken with military uniform and gun, he looks serious. Maybe that’s why his dad said “he invaded his blank sleep”.
When talking about his leaving, the mom employs a picture of steel handrail on the stairs to illustrate “how hard that might be”, because it’s hard for a mom to accept the fact that her boy is going to the army and she prefers to think he has gone for an entrance ceremony. So the picture had a double meaning, being hard to accept the truth as a mom and his hard life as a solder.
Two pictures of the mom and son together present their past happy life with another two solo pictures (Picture 2 & 3), one with a gun and the other with a mask. The eyes show his gallantry and also his wish to return home.
The torn newspaper is the other no hominine image. The newspaper is about the army for which he is serving. We may see that how unwilling his mom was when he left for the service. And she could have been the one who tear the papers.
The coda
The story ends with two childhood pictures which response to the lyrics: “I simply cannot get you out of my mind.” The little boy looks at the distance on the last image, while he may not predict that his future belongs to the brigade. Her mom relates this picture to his life in the marines as “the aims without wisdom; fairs without thinking”.
Conclusion
The pictures of a happy child may not go along well with the image of a solder, if no relevant information is provided. However, this story sounds so natural and the contrast of the images helps us to better understand the inner struggle of the author. If we simply listen to a narration without music and pictures, we may not get the deep meaning of it, and the narrator may need to explain something out of the story. While when we put the modalities together, we can understand more by presented images only or words only. That is the power of narration with image effects.
Another feature of this piece is that all the pictures are black and white, which may reflect the mood of the mom and the life as a solder, which are both grey. There are certain times the image of the solder son is enlarged and zoomed to the face. I guess that explains the mom really wants to see her son and talk to him face to face.
Limitations
The background music to me does not contribute more to the effect of the whole story, maybe because it is too weak and plain without many high tones. Actually the narration and images together are clear enough for meaning. Thus personally I think it would be better if the music can help more with the meaning convey.
Another thing is the pairing with the narration and pictures. Sometimes the pictures stay longer than necessary. For example, the story has already changed to his father’s side, while the sister’s picture still stays for another three more seconds. (33-36’’) That could be improved to be more precise.
Hi Haoxin, I agree with you that this DST would give stronger emotional impact on people who have similar experience as the author. The title is displayed on a dark, blank background announcing the emptiness and mood of the author. The second screen zoomed slowly to focus on the subject presented with some kind of pride however, with a slight sarcasm in the author's voice ' wondering if deep in your heart, you return to your own bed'. On the side of the coin, the author relates about his sister's concern and worry and his father's feelings. The phrase 'invades his blank sleep' is really impactful. It just shows how much he missed him and that, he always think of him.
ReplyDeleteI notice that photos of him when he was a child were shown whenever the author recalls her moments with her son at his younger age.I suppose this is natural. As we browse through photos of friends that we missed, our thoughts are talking at the same time recalling the special moments together. They are not as symbolic as the ones that show a steel iron gate and the man with his mouth covered with cloth.THe former is shown when the author says 'I'm afraid how hard it might be'refering the extent of harship that her son will go through and the latter appears as the author says..'first thing first, they will cut your hair..." as if to say her son will have no voice and he is there to obey.Another scene showing a 'torn' journal.. You mention about how unwilling his mom was when he left for the service. And she could have been the one who tear the papers. I think that scene is rather symbolic as if to show how difficult she feels when she tries to record her daily life without him.
Ohler (Ohler, 2006, p.6) mentioned that an effective and memorable digital story, should be, above all else, a good story. To support his central argument, he suggested an analogy in giving a bad guitar player a bigger amplifier.
ReplyDeleteThis story "I think of you" did not manage to engage me because I felt that there wasn't a powerful storyline though one couldn't help being moved by the strong emotions displayed by the choice of words used by Ann, the authoress in her narration. Even she herself admitted that her reason for telling this story was to give vent to her innermost feelings, perhaps her frustration as well, as to why her beloved son had to be separated from her, in an unfamiliar country, fighting someone else's war. This probably explained the appparent lack of cohesiveness in the sequence of narration.
In the same vein, the photos also seemed to be displayed in a somewhat haphazard manner in the story, in syn with whatever she was expressing at a particular moment. Some viewers mnay attribute the cause to be her feelings of ambivalence of whether her son did the right thing or not which was, to join the Marines.
I agree with the merits of this story as outlined by Daisy earlier eg Ann's expert use of the contrast betweeen 'black and white' in the selection of photos shown, her calm and persuasive voice which had me mesmerised for some moments and her narration skills.
If I had a chance to retell this story, I would introduce some music pieces to evoke in the viewers the feelings of the strong bond between Ann and her son, provide a logical sequence of Ann's thoughts and an appropriate arrangment of photos as a complement to walk the viewers effortlessly through the story.
Hi Sitzac and Wilson, thank you very much on your comments.
ReplyDeleteSitzac and I were moved from the female perspectives, even though the photos seem to be ordered in a disordered way. But the image contrast between the boy and a solder is quite powerful to me.
Yes, the music could be changed to a better one.