Mise-en- scene

 The Mise-en-scene project was really great and fun. We had to make a multimedia character station in our classroom with interactive features to present a character. The station had to have things that help people understand our character in a visual, audio and a tactile way. Each station will have have 3-4 computers and headphones along with them. We were also allowed to bring in objects to represent our character. The station was required to have a character description, a mood for the character, a representation of the chosen setting, audio that connected with the character and some tactile representations as well. We were allowed to go above and beyond these requirements and incorporate the elements above in any way that we wanted to. On the day of the project we had 15 minutes to set up and then we had to go around and analyze others projects as well. 

The character my group received was a retired firefighter who now works at an animal shelter. James Johnson, our character, was in the NYFD and was one of the many firemen who rushed to the chaos of the twin towers on 9/11/2001. While he was rescuing those in danger, the north tower collapsed and he was buried under the rubble, surrounded by concrete, glass and metal. After being pulled out and taken to the hospital he got a life changing piece of info. Unfortunately, he lost a leg and had a lot of trauma about the event. He was forced to retire because he could no longer do the things he could do before. The retirement was more of a way to get away from the reminder of the event he would have to face everyday. Later, he took up volunteering at the animal shelter to get his mind off the PTSD and trauma, little did he know he would end up growing an unconditional love for these animals. James found a therapy to his trauma which helps him to cope. (Image of full character description and background below) 

My group and I created a character description which lets the readers know all about his background and gives a deep description about his life. We created a mood board, which helped represent him and showed his likings and some characteristics of his life. The group also made an audio project with many layered sounds to represent an animal shelter with sounds of him playing with them representing how much he loves them and how it helps him. The tactile representations that we brought were dog treats and a squeaky dog toy which many people liked.  We had 4 computers at the character station, one had the character description, the second had the mood board, the 3rd had the animal shelter sound project and the 4th had a Spotify playlist with songs that represented his life. The props were placed at the station for people to understand as well. We also had an activity where you had to dress up the guy with instructions on what to dress him for. The other groups who were reviewing our station had to view every computer, look and play with the props and do the activity organized. 

At first when we started developing the character we could not really think of what to do but we soon figured out what to do. We first went over the stereotypes of a firefighter and wet thought about the type of clothing they wear, what are their likes and dislikes and what really represents them. Then we used the strategy de-centered to come up with the story of the 9/11 to make it more emotional and heartfelt. We also thought that the 9/11 story would actually represent the character and show him as brave but also soft hearted. We also used construction in an audio way to represent the sounds of the animal shelter and his soft and playful voice. The process of our group was great, everyone contributed really well and did a splendid job. We were a bit stressed out in the beginning but got over that obstacle. We got feedback that many people liked our project and found it interesting which means that the project was a success.