Transvespionage

The great thing about this blogging exercise was that it was something very unique and unexpected for a web design class.  The creation of a exquisite corpse story for the web was definitely an enjoyable change of pace from learning about the early history of the internet.  I was lucky enough to be one of the first directors with Sagan and establish the groundwork for the story, which I must say was definitely the most enjoyable part. The rest of the time I didn’t get to do much “acting” so I felt a little bored, but maybe I just wasn’t meant for that career path.

Each part of the process being handed off to different people was an very interesting idea and I think that each individual piece was done very well, but looking at the story as a whole it turned out really chaotic.  Now the script and the photos are funny in themselves and even funny in their randomness but I think that maybe more permanent positions for everyone would make the end product much more coherent.

Anyway it was an enjoyable, compelling, and hilarious experience and I appreciate that everyone had a role in every part of it as well as everyone’s contributions to it.

Overall, I think that this project was a very interesting and creative opportunity, but ultimately suffered from lack of organization.  I think had we written each script the day before, then allowed the directors and photographers to work from that script the next class period it would have made not only the photos, but the storyline flow a little bit nicer.

I do think that this was an interesting and creative way at looking at blogs and experiencing them as a new medium and it was for the most part lots of fun to put together. 

However, I would have almost preferred taking a week or two talking and pitching creative ways to use the medium allowing each of us to see it a different way.  At some points it felt like dedicating class periods to this project was little unneccessary. I also think that incorporating sound or video would have helped our overall project.

The process of creating the exquisite corpse was interesting and a lot of fun. There were many times where the creation of the blog became a little confusing, but this very fact made the blog more interesting to review and read.  I enjoyed acting out scenes that were written by my peers. That was a way for us all to bond and interact with one another in a way that I don’t believe we would have without the blog. Overall I feel that the exquisite corpse was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I found the blogging experience with Transvespionage to be pretty chaotic.  It was a fun way to spend a class period, but it wasn’t very beneficial in this case.  The changing of roles every time created a lack of order in the story and left the directors and writers somewhat confused most of the time.

The specific story we created as a class wasn’t great — it was sort of a disaster, but the overall idea for a creative collaboration was good.  Bringing together different skill sets and types of creativity allows for a wider range of ideas and possibilities for people to build on and can potentially make for a better end result.  I feel that this particular experience would have benefited from a topic that was more relatable to everyone in the class. This may have helped the story flow better.  The experience of playing a part in each of the different roles also helped to allow everyone to try out different things, not just stick to their strengths. 

Overall, this was an interesting experience. I think with better organization the final product would have had a stronger impact.

The process we used to make “Transvespionage” worked in the beginning, but as the story progressed alot of us became disconnected to the story and no longer knew what was going on. We may have been able to avoid this confusion if we all read it as a class before we started the next episode. However, since only the previous writers were the only ones that knew what was going on, this project kind of served as an exquisite corpse. And as an exquisite corpse it’s a master piece.

Going into the project, I was really hoping that each episode could have been done in a different style. For example: The first episode would be written as a script. The the second episode could be written like it’s an excerpt from a novel. The third episode could have been written in a comic book style writing… This would have made everything a lot more complex, but I think it would have been an interesting story to look back on. If we would have taken this approach we would have definitely need to organize our story line better.

I feel like every individual piece is done well. The writing on its own is good, the pictures are all really interesting, and the process was fun.

Well, things got pretty crazy pretty quick.

I started off somewhat in the drivers seat as a writer on the first day, and thought that we had some pretty ridiculous things going on. We took the director’s input, and created an extra cheesy plot-line, with extra cheesy dialogue, and unbelievable characters. From there, things got even crazier, and at the end the story line was a million miles from what I had envisioned it to be when I started writing it. I guess that’s what can happen in a collaborative work, however.

Part of me was disappointed at some of the turns that the story took, though another part of me was excited to see what crazy things would come up next. I felt like some parts were certainly stronger than others, and that at the end the story line was completely out of hand.

While sometimes I found it rewarding to be working on this blog play/picture event, most of the time I found it to be rather tedious. It was an interesting experience, but I’m not sure it would be one I would like to repeat.

Working on transvespionage blog was a lot of fun because every time we had different directors and actors, which in my opinion gave it a twist to the story. Working in this blog like this gave it an unpredictable factor to the story and I think that was the fun factor in this experience. I think that our work was very creative, you can tell that there is a big blend of ideas put together along the story, which makes it interesting.   

However, the final product was not sharp because there was a lack of writing control that made the story somewhat confusing, in my opinion. Going into the website and re-reading the story, is hard to follow because the text is not organized and the vocabulary shifts from blog post to blog post because we had different writers every time, so it was expected. Also, there are a lot of elements in the photos that do not resemble or lack resembling the story itself, which makes it confusing when you are reading the story and then looking at the pictures. I think that if we kept a permanent director, writers and set of actors we would have a better, much more organized blog that would make it a lot easier for readers.

I think it was a different, good experience that made me realize what a blog can do, as well as learning how to operate it and the capabilities of it in the long run. Things like learning how to write and take photos in this experience made it fun and interesting to me as a first timer in this kind of work. In the end, I would not partake in another blog like this because I am not passionate enough about photography, writing or story thinking. 

The entire process of making Transvesionage was nothing short of delightful. 

At first I felt very skeptical about how the finished product would transpire.  Especially being the one of the first directors, I felt sentimental towards the beginning idea.  Pickle and I developed the idea and had our own ending to the story.  As we would find out, other participants had completely different ideas, each feeding off the previous entry.  This only further added to the silliness and humor the story originally offered. 

This act of taking previously stated ideas and pushing the limits was very enjoyable.  Although at some moments the story loses its cohesiveness, it never strays from the original intent.  The purpose was to make a blog with circulating ideas.  This happened exactly and allowed everyone in the class to participate in every aspect of making Transvesionage.  This was a wonderful experience and I hope to do it again!

Thanks Liz!

I think this blogging exercise was tough because everybody was required to do every position.  Being the photographer wasn’t too bad.  But then when it came to writing, I was totally stumped and it wasn’t my strong suite.  I completely dreaded having to direct at first, but once I eased into it I started to feel more comfortable.  So this exercise demanded an ability to adapt and be receptive towards the ideas of others and be able to play off of it to further develop content.  However, I think our blog is indicative of creative processes that involve a lot of people; many ideas, twists, turns, and sometimes sporadic storytelling.  

This blog was a lot of fun and something different for the class to participate in. The best part would be how we all switched roles - each of us getting a chance to write our own part of the story one day then taking photos or directing the next.  I did feel, however, that the storyline had become rather random by the end.  It was funny to read through but it’s fairly easy to get lost in the story.  The images are always fun to look at though!  All things considered, it was a fun project to work on and keep updating.