Project 4: Literary Branding Remix

Branding Project: Worth 40% of your course grade
Proposal: Worth 15% of your course grade

Important Tentative and Possibly Changing Dates

• Apr 18: Proposal due (1-week grace period ends Apr 25)
• Apr 26: Project 4 Draft due for Peer Review by 11:59 PM (no grace period)
• Apr 27: Peer Review in class
• Apr 29: Revision Plan completed in class
• May 4: Project 4: Remix due by 11:59 PM
• May 11: End of grace period for Project 4. No work is accepted after 5:25 PM.

Goals

write and design web content, use digital images (and if appropriate, video and audio), and recognize basic HTML and CSS syntax.

explore how linguistic text (words), images, and layout combine to communicate with an audience.

recycle an existing story into something new and interesting.

 
The Project Assignment

You will take an existing story (fiction or nonfiction), and then choose a character, group, place, cause, or event from that story. You will create online resources for whatever you choose. The project you create will be a kind of digital remix.

The idea of remaking an old story in a new way should be familiar to you. Anytime a movie is made that is based on a book, those involved are creating a new multimodal version of the original. You are not limited to making a movie-version of your text however. Nearly anything goes. You may stick closely to the original version of the story or event, or you may reimagine the story from another perspective.

Requirements

• You must include all five modes of communication.
• You use appropriate documentation for all work that is not your own.
• Effort, risktaking, professionalism, and accomplishments will all influence the project grade.
• Your work should be complete, well-written, and avoid errors in image editing, linking, spelling, grammar, mechanics, and punctuation.

Grade-Level Requirements

Complete the B-level project and create two additional items from the list below.

Complete the C-level project and create four additional items from the list below.

Create a polished branding video (maximum 2 minutes) or a polished website with at least three different pages that are NOT included in the list below (e.g., an about page, a contact form).

Project Components List

Choose items from this list for your project. Note that an item cannot count in two categories. For example, you might publish your bucket list (#6) on your blog (#4), but the bucket list would NOT count as one of your three posts. You may create BOTH a video AND a website, but you only have to do one or the other.

1. Branding video (1–2 minutes in length) for your focus.
2. Website for your focus (which serves as a home for your collected materials)
3. Branding basics for your focus: create a profile pic or logo (400px square), a cover photo (1500px by 500px), and a tagline (maximum 160 characters).
4. Three blog/vlog posts (minimum). Topics include a rant, a favorite, a day in the life, dreams/goals, eyewitness report, etc.
5. Infographic with facts and details about your focus.
6. A Bucket List for your focus.
7. A /now page for your focus.
8. A Photo Gallery (9 photos minimum), with titles and descriptions, related to your focus.
9. FAQs about your focus.
10. A Listicle related to your focus.

Step-by-Step Details

Step 1: Choose a story and a related character, group, or place.
Choose a story (fiction or nonfiction) that you like or are interested in exploring. Do choose a story that is classroom-friendly. Nothing X-rated or otherwise inappropriate please.

Once you know your story, choose a character, group, or place from that story for your project. Here are some examples to get you started:

• Fictional characters: Hester Prynne, Janie Crawford, Daisy Buchanan, Jane Eyre, Lady MacBeth, Sula, or Lena Younger (Mama). Animal characters and monsters would work as well, like Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web or Grendel’s Mother from Beowulf. 
• Historical figures: Amelia Earhart, Elizabeth Blackwell, Helen Keller, Marian Anderson, Leslie Marmon Silko, or Mae Jemison.
• Fictional Places, Groups, or Causes: Tours at Pemberley; Folkspants, Unlimited (Miss Celie’s business).
• Historical Places, Groups, or Causes: Victoria Woodhull’s presidential campaign or Ida B. Wells’s newspaper Free Speech and Headlight.

These are only examples. Choose something that makes you happy. This should be a project that you enjoy working on. At the same time, think about how you will find or create assets for your project that are free for you to use. It’s hard to do a Disney character, for instance, because all those images, music, and video are copyrighted.

Step 2: Write a proposal.
You will explain your plans for your project, relying on the ideas in Writer/Designer, on pp. 90–92. Use the outline in the text to guide your proposal, including all of the headings listed. Be sure to talk about how you are incorporating risk. Your proposal can be short and informal, but it must include all the details discussed in the text. You can work in a word processor (Word or Google Docs).

Step 3: Develop and refine your project.
Following the resources in Writer/Designer, Chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7, you will collect sources and assets, design your citations, develop mock-ups and storyboards, and draft and revise your project (from rough cut to rough draft to final project). You can find full details on all these tasks in the textbook, and we will discuss them in class.

Step 4: Submit your project, and optional presentations.

Details on how to submit your work will be included in the post for the due date. Be sure that you follow the instructions, include the relevant information, and proofread your work. Remember that there are no rewrites or revisions after work is graded.

If time allows, we will have a project showcase during the last week of classes. We will work on the details when the time comes.