The Research Paper basically was what it says: a research paper. The students were to basically pick a topic where it presented a story, a climax (something interesting!), and good photos.
The paper had to consist of 6-7 pages minimum in order to get a proper grade. The paper was also supposed to explore many different views on the topic and leave the reader open to their own opinion on the subject. The students were required to use secondary sources (like the internet) and hands on interviews from certain individuals who were a part of the topic in some way.

      In my case, my paper basically explored the question " what is the cost of building a house in terms of relationships?" and explored the journey of a family through the process of building a new house. I chose this topic because i thought it would present a good story for everyone to read about in the documentary and it was a big thing that was going on within my life. I has also witnessed a lot of the tension that had came with building the house and felt that it fit all the requirements of the research paper. I also want people to know what my family has been through personally.

 

      The Audio Slideshow is pretty much what it says. Its a slideshow made in flash using something called action scripts. While we were putting together the code within flash, we went and interviewed 3 separate people that had certain views on our topic. That audio would later be edited in ProTools and put into the slide show. The pictures were pictures that were taken from the Design class during this unit and some were placed into the slide show to help provide the visual portion of the slideshow. Finally, when its all put together, we placed it on the documentary website and here it is for you to see!

      The basic angle that I'm trying to take with this is that building a house is not easy and shouldn't be considered as such. People should be aware of what it might cost them of they were to ever attempt to build something such as this. I just want people to know how it affected my family and have the general knowledge of what some of the costs are.
The people I decided to interview were people that are close to the story. I chose Terry Barrette, the woman who is the one attempting to build this house. I also chose Phil Barrette, her father and main man that is trying to help her get the house finished. And finally, my little sister Lindsey who is also wrapped up in the emotional portion of the house. When you listen to them within the slideshow, listen for their feelings and personal experiences. Enjoy!

 

        The Article/ book was basically like a article or picture book. Both consist of you research paper and a certain amount of photos taken of that topic at the beginning of the unit. The book consists of 30 pictures, beautifully portraying the topic and help tell and attract the reader to their story. The article resembles that of a magazine article, that consists of 15-20 pictures that also try to tell the story. The article required something extra; and illustration that symbolizes the central theme of the topic.

        For me, I liked organizing the book and making the pictures cooler with the affects. I particularly like the part where i have a picture of the stairs in the house before, and then of them afterwards. If one was to look at the article, i would like them to look at the pictures that i edited as they read it. I worked really hard on the pictures and although they may not relate with a certain part in the essay, they still consist of a meaning.

 

        I just put together what sounded right. When one thinking of music in garage band, they look for certain "chunck's" that sound nice and try to put them all together in one sing. Thats ok but thats not the best song one can make. To make a good song, one has to take some parts that they may not like alone, and interweave them together to produce something that is nice to hear and pleasant. Unfortunately, this background music dosen't live up to those standards yet, but soon I hope to achieve them.

 

         What I learned the most during this unit, i think, was actually a lot of thing including, InDesign, Protools, and even Recording the audio. But the most fun thing that i learned during this unit, i would say, would be Indesign. Its kind of cool to lay out a book just like that add text and pictures everywhere. I had also learned how to take better pictures as well as make them less fuzzy. As for the technical side, the action script code was difficult to understand and still is, but at least I now know some of the general rules that are applied to it.

         Unfortunately, this unit was the most STRESSFUL for me and everyone else. Although there were a lot of new things to learn, i think it just wasn't interesting enough and basically bored everyone a little. I think everyone will be glad when its over.

 

This is just something that i dew in Photoshop during this unit. I worked on it when I began to feel stressed.