This is the page for: Multimedia English Education, Fall 2008

(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)

Resumes

Some students have discussed the upcoming job seminar that will come after exams. If you’re looking for a guide to writing resumes, there are a few online. I recommend most students use a Skills-Based resume, because it lets you highlight your strengths (abilities) and deemphasize your weaknesses (lack of experience).

I can’t find the model resumes I have on file — they’re on a hard drive in a box somewhere, and I’m still moving from one apartment to another — but there are some good guides online.

Remember, the #1 rule for resumes is putting yourself in a good light. It’s your tool for selling yourself, so always find a positive way to express everything on it.

Sample Images

We agreed to test the theory that students could produce quality art “imitating” sample images of characters, and I said I would upload two sample images.

As discussed, all students should draw one picture of each, to the best of their ability. The characters should be doing something completely different from what they’re doing in the picture above. (Rising a bicycle, dancing, kissing a puppy, running, taking a shower, whatever…)

The background should be relatively simple, though suited to the characters. (Superman’s background should be a little more realistic, while Marjane’s — the girl in the second picture, from Persepolis  — can have a simpler background.)

Your sample drawing should be 1/4 of an A4 page. It is due on Wednesday, along with your scripts. On the basis of the quality of the pictures, we will again discuss whether to use hand-drawn art or photography, or, as Sora suggested, some combination of both, if it seems practical.

Here they are:

Superman

Persepolis

HDRI Links to explore

Here’s a pile of HDRI links to explore. I’ll be using a few of them in class to discuss this option, and bringing a few graphic novels to demonstrate alternatives:
 

Script Sample

Young Ah was kind enough not only to photograph the script concept for the first scene that we worked out in class, but also to type it up. I’ve done some editing and formatted it so it’s easy to read:

Goose Dad Script Sample — Prologue (Scene 1) (PDF)

If you look closely, you’ll see a few things.

First, the text is in Courier New 12-point font. The first page of a section mentions the section, such as PROLOGUE in this one. Each image is numbered, and there’s a note about the type of image (closeup, head shot, waist shot, or body shot). Then, in a paragraph under this information, there’s text describing the scene, written in italic. Dialog is indented completely (the who paragraph, not just the first line, using the indent controls on the ruler at the top of the word processor’s window) and the speaker is clearly indicated in capital letters (like “MOM:”). Where no speaker is clear, or narration is happening, CAPTION is written in place of a speaker’s name.

If you follow this kind of formatting, then the script should be much easier to edit and to read through!

Remember, I expect a draft of the first two sections of the book (that is, Separation and Adaptation) for next Wednesday, October 8th! (Also, those who are working on Dad’s part of the script will need to finish off the introduction, as well.) On Monday the 6th of October, we’ll be talking the possible approaches to handling the art for the book. I’ll bring some samples and we’ll talk about whether we want to use HDRI or hand-drawn images.

Characters and Scenes Homework, Plus Tongue Surgery Video

Folks,

I won’t be meeting with you on Monday,  because I’ll be at a conference, as I mentioned. We’ll have a make-up class sometime later on during the semester. However, I still expect you to meet and put together your ideas from the work you’ll do this weekend!

For this week, your homework is to  sketch out some ideas for the characters in this story. You also should make a list of scenes you want to include. Don’t try toarrange them into a plot yet, we can do that later. For now, think about what we talked about and make a list of scenes you want to include — something happening to a character, a character making this or that decision, and so on. For example, for The Matrix:

The scenes don’t need to be in order, we just need to know which scenes we want to work with. Next week, we’ll arrange them into a plotline, drop some scenes, add others, and then you can start working on a script!
Someone mentioned wanting to raise the issue of tongue-lengthening surgery. This video has a pretty vivid depiction of it. Please click through and watch it, because I cannot embed the video here. It also has a good look at English camps, which you might or might not want to discuss briefly in “Goose Dad.”

There are other videos about Tongue Surgery on Youtube, too:

Tongue surgery, by the way, is a legitimate operation, just not for the reasons it’s usually performed in Korea. The comments to the video above explain this well:

A lingual frenectomy is a form of frenectomy associated with the tongue.The removal of the lingual frenulum under the tongue can be accomplished with either frenectomy or frenuloplasty. This is used to treat a tongue tied patient. Immediately after this minor oral surgery, the tongue can often dramatically extend out of the mouth which it could not do before. This can help reduce breastfeeding complications, help improve speech and promote proper tooth arch development.

Frenectomy has become popular in South Korea in order to lengthen normal children’s tongues by about 1 mm so they can speak English better.[1] Critics regard the surgery as unnecessary, as Koreans born in the United States have no trouble distinguishing r and l.[2]

[edit] References 1. ^ Domenico Marceri, “English in France? Mais Oui!” Seoul Times, 2005.
2. ^ Demick, Barbara. “A snip of the tongue and English is yours!” Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2002.

The following is a terrible video, but a pretty good explanation of why some babies need to have a tongue surgery (after the first minute or two where they joke about ancient religious tongue surgery). It’s mostly to do with development of their palate and their ability to breathe.

The Discussion Board You Should Join

Just in case you’ve forgotten, the Discussion Board for this class is located here. Go apply for a membership: I should get around to approving your application in a day or two!

Homework for Week 1

Hi there,

I got so busy this week that I forgot to note your homework for the week:

Your readings packages have been delayed a little bit, so we’ll focus on figuring out what we want to do, this week, and then move on to looking at the readings during Week 3.

The Forum is Up!

The Discussion forum for this class is now up and running. It is located here.

You will notice that several classes use the forum for their discussions. Each class has its own “category.” You are free to look at the other classes’ forum if you like, or you can block their “category” so that you won’t see their discussion, and will only see your own class discussions.

To join the forum, click on “Sign In” in the top right corner of the window. A new page will load, and you can click “Apply for Membership” (near the middle of the window) to join the forum. (After you join, you will need to wait a little while — maybe a day or two — so that I can approve your application. Make sure you use your real name for now, so that I can know it’s a student and not a spam robot who is trying to join the forum, okay?)

I’ll discuss the forum in class next week, but feel free to experiment with it for now. You can start by replying to the discussion I’ve already started in each class.  Remember, if you start a new discussion, to put it in the right “category” — that is, put the discussion into the right class!

Student Info Sheet

I will be bringing copies to class for all my classes, but in case you missed it, or lose your copy, you can download the Student Info Sheet here:

Student Info Sheet (PDF)

You must fill this out with a partner. If you wish to write comments on the back, fold the paper on the black line in the middle, and be sure to write your name at the top of the side you use, so I can know who wrote on which side.

Syllabus and The Big Link

Welcome to Multimedia English Education, one of my courses for Fall 2008.

Here is the syllabus for the course, as discussed in class. Please note, one small change has been made to the assessment section. The change will be discussed in class on Sept. 3rd.

Multimedia English Education (PDF)

I discussed in class Monday (Sept. 1st) how this course was inspired by the Stanford Graphic Novel Project, and asked you to read the graphic novel they produced, titled Shake Girl, which is your reading assignment for this first week of classes. You can read Shake Girl and find out more about the project here.

I look forward to seeing what you create with your own ideas and inspiration this semester!

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