COURSE
English 303 Multimedia Writing

ASSIGNMENT
Book Chapter Remix
For this project, you will choose one chapter from either Blown to Bits or Program or Be Programmed and translate the major themes and arguments of that chapter into a video project.

Your project should not take the form of you simply reading the chapter, although you can quote from it as necessary; rather, you should re-present or remix the content of the chapter in a way that both honors the original purpose of the authors and is suited to audiovisual media.

This project will require a number of skills on your part: you will need to successfully summarize the main themes of the chapter that you present in your project. You will then need to create a script for the project, planning out the ways in which you will incorporate the features of the medium to present these themes to best effect. You will need to research the resources you will include—audio and video clips, still images—and plan how you will record your new material—both shooting video and recording audio. Finally, you will need to edit your recordings into a coherent final project that communicates the purpose of the chapter.

There are many different forms your project could take. You could use the documentary form to present the ideas of the authors, illustrating their purpose with news clips and other media. You could create a narrative around the chapter, using fictional characters or settings to illustrate information in the book. You could animate the chapter, or otherwise illustrate its contents.
I am open to any of these options or others you can think of; the only firm requirement is that your project should take advantage of the resources of video—editing and the grammar of video, the use of still images and video clips, narration, and sound effects—to engage the argument of the chapter.

Requirements
As you can see from the course schedule, we will not complete all of the readings from the texts until the end of the semester, so you should scan ahead through these chapters to decide which one you will want to choose for this project. It may make sense to choose one of the chapters from your DL week, as this will allow you to focus on this chapter for both projects with less distraction.

Your video should have a title and clearly indicate what it is—a version of the chapter you have chosen—and should clearly credit the original authors. It should be 7-10 minutes long. This will require you to summarize and reduce the content of the chapter so that you can present it in this space.

As with your other projects, all outside sources must be cited, including in-text citations to indicate when you are citing materials and full citation information in the credits.

PROJECT TIMELINE
Week 1 – 8
Read course texts and select one chapter for the “Book Chapter Remix” video project. Additional readings available to provide guidance for platform specific movie making programs and techniques.

Week 1 – 15
Submit ten personal blog posts, available to instructor and classmates, that describe learning, particular successes or challenges encountered in projects, and provide detail regarding course progress.

Week 8
Submit detailed plans for chapter remix video project.

Week 15
Submit completed chapter remix video project.