REFLECTIONS ON PRODUCING "ESCROWING PAINS"

REFLECTION ON PRODUCING “ESCROWING PAINS”
MY SECOND DST PROJECT

By: Don Grant

1. What is the essential story behind the piece you created?
The story behind my second DST project was a media documentation of my more than eighteen month journey as a prospective first-time home buyer in Los Angeles. The word “prospective” actually suits my quest well. Throughout the arduous, competitive and often disappointing process, I frequently felt like a gold prospector from 1849 who has heard tell of an endless supply of treasure just waiting to be mined, but who instead discovers himself scrambling amongst endless masses of desperate others chasing his same dream, the authentic nuggets few and far between and most of the promised “treasure” turning out to be mere Fool’s Gold.

2. What was your purpose in creating this piece of new media? Do you feel you were successful in communicating your purpose?
My purpose in creating this project was to stretch my abilities beyond what I produced in my first DST project. Because all of this is still relatively new to me, my thrill even at the most basic of technological functions involving something I uploaded, downloading to the proper place was almost ridiculously thrilling. I also decided to explore a more creative and perhaps esoteric format with regards to the voice-over underneath both the opening and closing credits. Like many “artists,” I wanted to take a risk. I hope it works! Finally, I of course had the goal of authentically delivering my story. Although, I now must be honest and admit that it was quite possibly a cathartic expression of the angst I experienced throughout my entire house hunting “adventure.”

3. Who was your audience? Do you feel you were successful in reaching your audience?
As with my first DST project, my initial audience will, I expect, be my professor, course peers and also friends and colleagues with whom I have shared this project. Because we are required to also “post” our work on a public forum (I chose both YouTube as well as my personal Facebook page), I suppose that there appears no limit to the audience it will ultimately reach. I cannot know at the time of this writing if I will be successful in reaching my initial audience save those with whom I have already shared my work, but I hope that my professor and peers will view it. However, I hope that it ultimately enjoys more external validity with the digital population.

4. Why did you use your particular approach to media production and media selection? Were you successful?
My approach to the project was guided by the assignment presented. I certainly made choices regarding production style and design, but what was important to me was that I not sacrifice content for the sake of impressive technological exhibition. I had originally considered a much “darker” project. Because I am still a novice in terms of my digital media skill set however, I decided to suppress my ego and focus instead on properly producing a good story, rather than attempt a “mood” piece which would deserve a production style I believe is still beyond my current ken.

5. What did you learn during the process of crafting your media piece that you can use in creating future new media narrative?
I learned once again that my ambition sometimes supersedes the pragmatic. I really wanted to go further with this project than I did in the first assignment, so I crafted a script that although was longer than required, offered I think a more sophisticated construction than my last piece. I also faced my almost pathological perfectionist nemesis. This piece of my persona invariably reveals itself primarily in my creative pride and in the case of this particular project manifested in my unconditionally committed search to discover the best possible images to accompany my words. Because this is a digital storytelling piece sans autobiographical video, it was vital to me that the images presented reflect not only the scripted words supporting them, but also deliver variances in color, humor and insight that in another media form might otherwise have been translated by facial cues. It was also important to me that the images synchronized exactly with the emotion I wished to convey and I hope that I was successful in that goal. I do believe that I improved my abilities to produce this type of user-friendly media. The confidence I gained in that process will, I know, provide me with less anxiety when faced with more sophisticated media production programs in the future. As a result of this stronger self-efficacy, I enjoyed this project much more than my first foray, because it did not feel so foreign to manipulate either the images or style tools. Like many “filmmakers,” I also discovered that production timelines are prone to expand! As the script for this piece was indeed much longer than its predecessor, and both the real life experience explored in the story as well as an unanticipated protracted illness interrupted my work, this project was much more protracted than I anticipated. This be neither anticipated nor avoided, but it was frustrating. I am confident, however, that I am not the first, or last media artist to encounter such unforeseeable delays!