Our Movie
Note: I created my own voiceover as my group didn’t want to create one in class, unsure if they used my voiceover for their posts
Plot, Character, Setting and Mood
· Explain how you figured out what your Avatar would look like.
In the book, Garvey was described as a “gravelly-voiced, wisecracking Indian parole officer” who was “built like a bulldog with lazy eyes”. In my avatar, I tried to show all elements of his appearance as described in the book, as well as adding some features I imagined myself. I choose the avatar style because it was the most “bulldog-like” style offered. For his eyes, I choose ones that looked “lazy”, as described in the book, but also friendly, as he is often trying to help people. I experimented with different styles of mouth shape, because I originally imagined him as smiling, but I found that him appearing serious made more sense with the rest of his face.
· How did you choose the plot points?
As Cole is present for all of the story, we choose plot points by summarizing each chapter into a sentence. We combined some chapters into just one plot point if there weren’t many events that occurred in that chapter.
· Explain how you figured out the setting in your story. Why is the setting significant to the story?
When choosing images, I looked for pictures that not only expressed the appearance of the scene, but also the mood. For example, I was looking for a picture that showed Cole trying to leave the island, so I looked for a picture of someone swimming. A lot of the pictures that came up showed someone having a good time swimming, but that didn’t show the desperation of an escape. The picture I picked was darker, and the person in the image looks more concentrated than happy. This better expressed the mood of Cole’s escape attempt.
· Explain what the word mood means and how/why you picked the song that you picked?
The word “mood” used to describe our movie means the atmosphere of our movie. The song we picked reflects who Cole is after he decides to become a better person, rather than the angry, bitter person he is in earlier chapters. This movie is meant to express Cole’s time of reflection on his past, which is why we chose a slower, calmer song that can show introspection.
Core Competency Reflection
An example of an idea I developed that was new to my peers is…
When thinking of the movie, I came up with the idea of it being a representation of Cole’s introspection while deciding to become a better person. While I’m not sure if this is what my group members think of the movie as, this was a new idea to them and an interesting thing to think about.
In discussions and conversations, I help to build and extend understanding by…
When discussing the book, I tried to make connections between this book other things, such as other books, real life events I’ve heard of, things I’ve experienced, and things I’ve learned. For example, the bear’s behavior connects back to the “Staying Safe in Bear Country” video we watched, and the Circle Justice is something similar to real life things I’ve heard about.
This is how I select images and words to create impact for different audiences:
When selecting images for this movie, I tried to pick ones that show the feeling or mood behind that moment in the book. For example, when picking an image to represent the burning of Cole’s supplies, I picked one that showed the power of the flames, and the burning was the main focus of the photo. When picking words, I went with words that expressed how Cole felt in those moments. Instead of saying “leaving” or “going away” I went with words more like “escaped”, because that’s what Cole felt he was doing when he tried to leave the island.