Digital Media Projects
Podcast Project
"The Triumphs & Struggles for a Creative Writing Career w/ Professor Paul LaTorre"
In this episode of Digital Media Podcast, I’m interviewing my mentor and esteemed Bloomfield College faculty member, Paul LaTorre, on his rise in the creative writing industry as a creative writing professor and performing poet.
For my first amateur podcast, my mentor/professor, Paul LaTorre, was my guest speaker. I spent a few days before the interview crafting specific questions pertaining to Professor LaTorre’s life experiences surrounding his passion and career in poetry. My goal for this interview is to learn the different routes aspiring poets/creative writers can take to break into the creative writing industry. Using Zoom’s recording feature, our interview clocked around 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Then, I searched for podcast examples I can model mine after. I implemented the prologue of Professor LaTorre’s definition of poetry and then the “Title Card” as a way of sparking the audience’s interest early on. I placed moments of silence or background noises (of people talking) in-between my narration and Professor LaTorre’s answers in order to give the listeners a breather and/or a moment to reflect.
Overall, the entire process of a podcast -- from setting up the interview, crafting questions, recording and performing the interview, and audio editing/mixing into a 10-minute limit -- was a bit daunting but also an achievable and fun learning experience.
Video Project
A Day at Dorney Park (2018)
Music by:
HoliznaCC0 - "April Showers" (from FreeMusicArchive.org)
For my Concept in 60 seconds video, I wanted to focus on my time at Dorney Park in 2018. It was rare for me to go to an amusement park, so I had taken various small video recordings as a souvenir. I chose this subject because it made me feel nostalgic for life/society pre-pandemic (i.e. no masks or social distance in the video). Also, this trip marked my transition into a Bloomfield College undergraduate, since it was sponsored by Bloomfield College for incoming freshmen.
For the video content, I wanted to show a condensed version of my adventure in chronological order. I clipped my 5-20 seconds of video recordings together with each proceeding video showing enough information of the atmosphere (location, people, weather/lighting, etc.) and then cut abruptly to the next sequence until the 60-second limit is met. For audio, I used a calm but upbeat music sample to match the theme park’s duality – bustling and fast-paced in some areas, while vacant and serene in others.
Overall, the video and audio editing was a simple feat due to the iMovie app (found in MacBooks).
Client Project
BC Underground's Literary Magazine Website
My teammates (Jaivon Daniels, Taylor Galyean, Tatyani Lawton) and I were tasked with creating a website for Bloomfield College's literary magazine, BC Underground.
For our Client Project, we were tasked with creating a website for Bloomfield College's literary magazine, BC Underground, spring 2022 edition. Given our different strengths, I performed the writing portions of the project (with feedback and aid from my teammates): Usability Report and Turnover Package. I also inspected the website for any technical (correcting/adding page links) and grammatical errors.
Outside the writing portions, Taylor and I conducted Usability Tests for the website prototype. The goal of our usability test was to improve the usability of the website – knowing which areas to keep, delete and/or revamp. Based on the tests’ results, we identified 3 major issues as well as corresponding solutions for our website’s improvement in the Usability Report.
Additionally, Jaivon and I constructed and organized a Turnover Package for our client. In addition to our Usability Report, we included instructions, outlines, notes, website URL and log-in information, etc., so our client can assess and/or recreate the website anytime (a smooth transition of power).
Overall, our website turned out to be a success. With the exceptions of a few requirements such as an Editorial Board page, Dedication & Acknowledgment page, Archive page, etc., our client gave us creative liberties on how the website should be presented (design, font style, colors, images, etc.). We, in turn, used our client’s advice/suggestions, usability test results and previous editions’ website as models for the final version of our website. Though I tend to shy away from technical projects due to their perceived difficulties, this project became manageable because it was broken down into small steps (1 – Prototype, 2 – Client meeting, 3 – Usability Test, 4 – Usability Report, 5 – Website Revisions, 6 – Turnover Package); we also had a collaborative team, client and teacher.