Ariel Cook Hilary Greene Susan McNeal Lydia Neeley
There has been a decline in the number of TV shows recently that use narration to guide their screenplay. The new rage is "reality" TV, where there is no need for a narrator because the characters control the plot. The concept of narration on a television screen has nearly been thrown out with the new wave of shows crashing upon our wide plasma screens. For the few shows which have kept the classic charm of a narrated screen play, they render a unique sense of style and appeal to their audience. Often they use the voice of the narrator to convey humor or move about key details which could not be developed in the shows constrained time slot. The recent comedic sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, created by screenwriters Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, is a prime example of such a show. The show develops from what you may consider "bedtime stories". In every show, the main character is telling a story from the past to his present children on how he met their mother (thus the title of the show). Therefore, the show is framed in a past tense setting, where the narrator controls the playing of events on the stage.
In this Media/Visual Literacy Project we will be studying the show How I Met Your Mother and discovering what elements of the narration make the show appealing and unique. We will be sketching out the structure and framework of the narration by noting the concepts which are carried and developed from episode to episode. Once we have gathered our observations we will design ways we can use media narrative studies in an English Language Arts classroom.The final portion of our study will reveal what matters of the structure and framework affect not only the characters but the audience.
In order to convey this areas of study through media, we will be presenting our conclusions through a web blog. We anticipate using text, links, videos, and images to create a factual and engaging delivery.
As a group we will also be creating a Google Lit Trip for the YAL novel Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. In doing this, we will learn how to use the new internet resource, Google Lit Trip, and develop new perspectives for our future English classrooms and young adult literature. We will do so by using interesting links and pictures to help build a better understanding for the book as a whole.
How I Met the Narrator
Media/Visual Literacy ProjectAriel Cook
Hilary Greene
Susan McNeal
Lydia Neeley
There has been a decline in the number of TV shows recently that use narration to guide their screenplay. The new rage is "reality" TV, where there is no need for a narrator because the characters control the plot. The concept of narration on a television screen has nearly been thrown out with the new wave of shows crashing upon our wide plasma screens. For the few shows which have kept the classic charm of a narrated screen play, they render a unique sense of style and appeal to their audience. Often they use the voice of the narrator to convey humor or move about key details which could not be developed in the shows constrained time slot. The recent comedic sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, created by screenwriters Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, is a prime example of such a show. The show develops from what you may consider "bedtime stories". In every show, the main character is telling a story from the past to his present children on how he met their mother (thus the title of the show). Therefore, the show is framed in a past tense setting, where the narrator controls the playing of events on the stage.
In this Media/Visual Literacy Project we will be studying the show How I Met Your Mother and discovering what elements of the narration make the show appealing and unique. We will be sketching out the structure and framework of the narration by noting the concepts which are carried and developed from episode to episode. Once we have gathered our observations we will design ways we can use media narrative studies in an English Language Arts classroom.The final portion of our study will reveal what matters of the structure and framework affect not only the characters but the audience.
In order to convey this areas of study through media, we will be presenting our conclusions through a web blog. We anticipate using text, links, videos, and images to create a factual and engaging delivery.
How I Met Your Mother
Full Episodes on CBS website: Full Episodes
Google Lit Trip
As a group we will also be creating a Google Lit Trip for the YAL novel Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. In doing this, we will learn how to use the new internet resource, Google Lit Trip, and develop new perspectives for our future English classrooms and young adult literature. We will do so by using interesting links and pictures to help build a better understanding for the book as a whole.