Social Media Adaptation

So let's review today's discussion of social media as a venue for storytelling. But by request, here is Star Wars Uncut in its entirety. What a great example of collaborative creative online remixing.

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

As a reminder, here is the assignment description:

Students will work in groups of 3-4 to adapt a ‘classic’ literary work to a social media platform. All students in the group must have read the selected piece of literature, and the instructor reserves the right to determine what constitutes a ‘literary classic.’ Social media platforms may include Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Flickr,YouTube, Pinterest,Tumblr, and/ or whatever else you want to pitch to the instructor. Students are encouraged to consider how elements from the original literary work (themes, tone, character development, narrative structure, etc.) are translated into the new medium (which may include images, videos, music, sounds, hyper- links, games, etc. in addition to text).

In class, we decided that our adaptations of literary works to social media might acknowledge/take advantage of the following characteristics:

• Social media allow for stories to be told using a variety of media (images, moving images, text, games, etc. etc.) and platforms.
• Social media platforms have particular cultures, conventions and infrastructural limitations.
• Social media often emphasize social interaction (between characters within the narrative and between creators and audiences).
• Social media allow for instant and (arguably more democratic) dissemination of your creative work.
• Social media allow for storytelling simultaneously from multiple perspectives.
• Social media draw attention to the disparity between the constructed nature of one's online persona and their actual perspectives, behaviors, etc. 

That list isn't exhaustive, but keeping this discussion in mind during the creation of your project would be helpful. Also, I'll be evaluating your work with the following in mind.

• Effective retention of elements of the original work and the incorporation of new elements that speak to your (as creators) interests/strengths and contemporary context. (How is Nolan's Batman the same as Bob Kane's or Frank Miller's? How is it new and different? Why is it new and different--what does Nolan bring to the character and how is the cultural/political/social/artistic context of 2012 evident in The Dark Knight Rises?)
• Creative use of those aspects of social media (multimedia, interactivity, simultaneity, etc. etc.) that are unique to them. (What does Twitter or Instagram or whatever have to offer this story?)
• Collaboration among group members. How are the strengths, skills and knowledge of each group member contributing to the final work? How is the labor divided among group members? (This will be evaluated in part by the 'Grade your Group' feedback forms you'll complete on Tuesday).
• Reflection in artists' statement regarding your creative process, how your work relates to class discussions and outside media. (Ask yourselves: What elements of the original work did we find compelling and choose to retain? What did we bring (from our individual experience and contemporary context) to the story? How did we use social media to effectively present this adaptation? What was this collaborative process like for us? What did we gain from it? What was challenging about it? How does this relate to our discussions of and readings on playing, poaching, remixing and adapting?)

Next, how do we turn this in? Well, some content should be included on the blog post itself, whether it's a screengrab of the story as it unfolds on the social media platform. Like this...

...or this....

...OR if you are creating content (images, video, text, etc.), embed that stuff in your post. (Including content on the blog is especially helpful when your social media platform--like Myspace--is blocked on BYU's network).

And finally, because your adaptation is meant to be interactive (at least to some degree), include links to help your audience begin to navigate the narrative--for example, links to the public profiles of your characters (remember to set privacy settings to public to allow us to see your work without having to create an Instagram account and follow each of your characters). Though, depending on your story, and how you'd like your audience to navigate it, other links might be more relevant.

And to include, here are those other cool things we watched in class.

Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo from HitRecord

Morgan & Destiny's Eleventeeth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo from marc daly on Vimeo.

How the Amazing Spiderman Should Have Ended from The Fans.

And here's a collaborative fan-created music video for a post-humously released Johnny Cash song. And it's awesome. (I can't embed it because the video changes everytime you view it.)

"Ain't No Grave" by The Johnny Cash Project