My Storytelling Journey (A Mashup)

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Remix/Mashup

To me a remix is a remake of a piece of media that keeps the essence of the work while changing select aspects of it. A mashup is piece of media that is created using content from a number of different places. When I went out to explore definitions of these words, I was surprised that most definitions didn’t match up with mine. Most references to remixes were about music exclusively. Definitions of mash-ups seemed very specifically about programming by most definitions. These definitions make sense considering how these words were initially used but their uses have evolved with the explosion of digital creation tools. The Wikipedia (2016) definition (video version) came the closest to what I think of as a mashup. “A video mashupcombines multiple pre-existing video sources with no discernible relation with each other into a unified video” (Mashup, para. 1).

In this vein, I created a mashup of my storytelling work from this semester, embedded (hopefully seamlessly) within a story of my journey.

Tool Review

I chose to use PowToon for my mashup and I really love it. When you sign up for the free account, you are given a bonus 2 days’ access to the full suite. I did complete my video in that time, so I am curious to see if I feel limited by what is included with the free account. In any case, it was an excellent experience working with it. As with most projects like this, the final product makes you think the process was quick and easy. Though it was easy, it was quite time consuming to get it exactly how I wanted, particularly in terms of timing. However, this is the case with any video you make/edit, of any kind! It is a straight forward tool that one can learn quickly. My only complaint was the inability to change the order of objects front to back. They are layered according to the order they are added to the slide and cannot be changed.

Mashup (video). (2016, March 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 7, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mashup_(video)&oldid=711429193

4 Replies to “My Storytelling Journey (A Mashup)”

  1. That was cute. I think you used the free-pro tools to your advantage — the little figures were just enough animation without being overwhelming or kooky. I also appreciated that you kept the video to a limited palette, I think the color story going on gives it a polished feel. It is neat that we used the same tools but got widely varying projects.

    Dave is right, the “they” should be “though” in your sixth sentence, first paragraph, but other than that it looks good.

    I think this was a nice wrap-up to your semester.

  2. This is a cool application. I have bookmarked it for future use! Although I didn’t address the definitions of mashup and remix that I found while researching, you nailed it on the head. Most dealt with music. I have enjoyed seeing your work as well as appreciated your feedback throughout the course.

    Only thing I found in blog is the following sentence:
    “they their uses has evolved with the explosion of digital creation tools.”
    I assume “they” should be “though”.

    Nice job

  3. Just brilliant. I should probably do the Zen thing and leave it at that, but that would be a disservice to us all. This post and the first post of the semester make compelling bookends for your approach to the semester’s challenges. The fact that your initial fear of whether or not you might be able to tell stories was text and the last comments about that same topic are so deftly animated is strong testimony to your growth this semester. I don’t mean in the slightest to imply that text can’t be powerful–clearly that’s not the case–but the fact that you could work in an additional medium and make your point so strongly brings us all full circle in the process of knowing what stories are and how to tell them. I could not be happier with your response to this assignment. Thank you.

  4. This was so wonderful to watch! I love how inspirational it was, going from self-doubt to having confidence and showing how much you’ve accomplished throughout this class. I love Powtoon, the cartoons are so fun!
    I didn’t see any mistakes and everything was very clear and easy to follow. A great last post!

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