For my digital composition project I decided to create a movie review of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (https://www.wevideo.com/view/1685351836). The reason I decided to do my project around this movie was because I thought it would be fun to talk about and there was a lot to of content to dive into. On the flipside, there was almost so much to talk about that it became hard to narrow my thoughts or make my commentary insightful and concise. Despite that, working with WeVideo was helpful for piecing together my video in a user friendly way. Way back when in high school I had some video editing experience in a broadcast journalism class. So maneuvering this website was not the most difficult, but I forgot how nitpicky and time consuming the editing process can be.
A definite ‘Ah-ha’ moment was when I realized how to layer text over the images I was using. It may seem simple to do, but going through the process of piecing together the images with the text took a while. I was frustrated when I had to delete images to find the text or delete the text to move the images to fit to scale on the screen. It was a relief when I discovered how to layer the music, images, voiceover, and text in a synchronous way that made the video have a semblance of ‘flow’ to it.
A Digital Literacy that I found myself engaging with was what Jenkins refers to as ‘Play’. I honestly thought that making a video would be a breeze, but the technical aspects of the platform required me to play around with all its bells and whistles. The Jenkins text says, “Part of what makes play valuable as a mode of problem-solving and learning is that it lowers the emotional stakes of failing: players are encouraged to suspend some of the real world consequences of the represented actions, to take risks and learn through trial and error.” Since the task of composing the video was done on my own, the stakes did feel lower than they would have been if there had been more rigidity to the editing process. Had I been in a classroom environment where I had to acquaint myself with WeVideo and produce a polished product in a couple of hours I would have been overwhelmed and frustrated. The time I had to play with the platform led to a less stressful experience and a decent final product.
As always, thank you for reading and I appreciate everyone’s input on both this post and my digital composition.
George Connelly's Professional Blog 
Hi George!
Your final product is so well put together! While watching, I realized that the background music you had playing during the video was actually the music from the film – good thinking there! It really makes your review that much more concerned with the details of the film and gives your viewers a little more of a feel of how the movie is.
Same as with your draft, I appreciate that what you’re talking about is factual and not based solely on your opinions. You provide a lot of detail about the actors, the music, and the movie as a whole.
You mentioned how you had previous experience using WeVideo but it was still a learning experience for you. I definitely agree with you even though I used a different platform. You never realize how many features a platform may have until you want to try something new. I’m glad you were able to figure out how to layer the text and images!
I also agree with you about the stakes of the assignment – given that we are all experimenting in digital composition, I feel like we all were at least a little worried about the composition process. But like you said, since we had so much time to complete the project and most of it was done on our own time, I felt like everything was manageable.
Thanks for the great movie review and I look forward to seeing you again next semester!
Take care,
Caitlyn
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Hi George! Thanks for sharing your digital journey and your process of how you decided to create your digital piece. Your “aha” moment was well explained and gave insight into your process and ways of thinking when you decided how to carry out your digital work as well as the editing process. I can understand the frustrations that come when creating work and glad you were honest and open about that part of process; it’s an important part to reflect upon as well.
-Silbi
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First of all, I give you lots of credit for creating a project where you are not just talking over clips, but you are actually visible. I don’t think I would have ever taken that chance. I thought your breakdown of the characters, soundtrack, and Tarantino himself, gave your audience a solid grasp of the plot, setting, and credibility of the movie. In regard to the digital literacy, “Play”, you talked about, I also found myself using continuously throughout the project, largely due to my lack of knowledge in the technology realm. However, it definitely had an influence over how my project came to be. Also, I must admit that at first, I thought you forgot to turn off a radio in the background. It wasn’t until you started talking about the soundtrack that I realized you were using the soundtrack as additional audio. Great idea, I thought it really added to your project. Awesome Job!
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Wow, George, you really did some research for this piece, analyzing the film on multiple levels. I see that you also played around some with the title cards and transition features provided by WeVideo. Nice work.
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