Digital Story/Why Dystopias? (FOUN 098)

In conjunction with reading dystopian books such as 1984, We, Riddley Walker, and The Lathe of Heaven, Professor Anthony Stewart asked students to produce digital stories about their personal anxieties. Often we don’t truly reflect on pivotal moments of our lives. The digital story grants students the opportunity to reflect on these stories and bring them out in the open for discussion and reflection. The result, Empowerment. Using Final Cut Pro X, students learned how images tell stories and how meanings change with the juxtaposition of images on a timeline. Students reviewed their peers’ work, and the nature of the assignment encouraged students to open up about their lives, reflect on specific moments, and articulate those moments using digital tools. Students began the process with scripts that were articulated with the aid of peer reviewing. They went on to storyboard their scripts, find iconic explicit and implicit images that best told their story, record their narrations (scripts), and finally selected music and sound effects that matched the tone of their story