Essentially I am a process-oriented person. I am fascinated by what goes on during the process of creation and why we feel the need to create. I create for myself. If you get something out of my written sentiments that works too, because it means we have similar values and outlooks on life. Self expression in all its digital forms allows me to use more than just words to connect with more beyond what’s right in front of my face.
Scott McCloud’s chapter on the 6 stages of the creative path reminds me that I have a long way to go and many more dues to pay before I can truly call myself a writer or digital storyteller. Dean Terry said the only way to become good at something is to do it and do it often. I can work with that. I believe that both my sound and my moving image reflect a lot of progress in my quest for digital textuality and media literacy.
More than any other reading, Christine Paul’s excerpt of Brad Paley’s Text Arc altered my digital textuality for ever. If it could be done with Alice In Wonderland, I realized that I could essentially do the same thing with any concept I choose. Of course, I’m not able to code Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a TextArc at this point in time, but I took it as a writer, and made it a part of my identity as an avid lover of classic films where stories are pure and special effects are for enhancement purposes rather than the main feature that winds up overshadowing the storyline in many modern movies. I appreciate being able to stay true to the original narrative by Truman Capote. The literary nerd in me is forever grateful.
Aside from the thrill of getting to read a sound piece that mentions Black Flag in Steve Wakman’s California Noise… is the fact that it helped me to identify and articulate that yes, there is a distinct difference between sound and noise. Although, that too is subjective based on audience perceptions and preferences. Who am I to tell you how to feel or how to relate to what we hear and see? That being said, dogma will only limit my experiences if I cannot look past the noise to discover what lies underneath.
Revisions made to my sound object were necessary in making the familiar into the unfamiliar, which were done by removing the iconic song that’s just be done one too many times. The hardest part meant adjusting the concept because once you changed one portfolio object, the rest must also go under the knife in order to stay cohesive and relevant.
For now, I look forward to the inspiration that can only occur by being exposed to new forms, new adaptations of analogous material revamped as only digital textuality can coax it from the past, giving it a new life, a new audience, and a newfound freedom of creativity.
We all want to feel unique and special. I think that digital textuality can empower us to do more when we think we’ve got nothing more to say or that no one wants to hear it in the first place. I worry needlessly so, that my experience with it will subside once I graduate. It is completely and absolutely unfounded of course. The databases are out there. The information exists. I can no longer rely on professors as my sole form of exposure.
I feel like a kid who is trapped in a library and discovers there are more ways and means of storytelling than what is in books. I’m still not sure where I am going to end up with all of this, but we will all know it when I get there.