Reviewing Essex County

One of the ways that Jeff Lemire brought all of the stories together was through the use of a repeated theme of a crow.

While the stories in Essex County may not be directly connected in the story, we learn at the end of the novel that there is a common thread to all of the stories. All of these stories are connected in that they are all about two families that reside in Essex County. These two families have had an intertwined history throughout the last 100 or so years.

Book One: Tales from the Farm

In the beginning of the story, we see Lester imagining that he can fly around the farm. This perspective is an introduction to the way that Lemire will communicate that he is giving us a picture of the wider situation.

Book Two: Ghost Stories

In learning about Mr. Lebuff, who thinks of himself as Lou; we once again see a return to the overhead perspective. When he gets into an argument with his nurse, we see a crow startled by the noise of the front door slamming.

Book Three: The Country Nurse

Traveling further back in time, we learn the story of how the families came to inhabit Essex County in the first place. In this part of the graphic novel, it is revealed that the crow we keep seeing is like the crow that Mr. Gerrard (who rescued the children and nun from a burning building) kept as a pet.

The crow flies above the group, helping to lead them to safety. In the same way, throughout the book crows are often seen flying above the people who live in Essex County. It appears that these birds are still acting like guardians.

For a greater understanding of the story, and previous examinations of how Lemire uses framing to tell his story, check out these two posts: Framing use 1; Framing use 2.

Final push

Photo by Flicker user Shremee.

Final Project

With our final project, our presentation deadline is fast approaching. On November 26th we are going to present our final project to the school and members of the community. Because of this, it is vitally important that I make any last minute changes to my project within the week.

This is part of the problem with being a perfectionist, you have to manage your time well enough to complete your projects, but to be satisfied with the quality of your work you have to set aside sufficient time for review. In my original schedule, I set aside time for review; so I am happy that I've had the opportunity to have my project review by the faculty, and to have time to review the project myself.

In my review, I've identified a few things that I'm not happy with about the project. Fortunately, these are not major problems and I anticipate that I will be able to overcome these challenges with enough time to perfect the details of the project.

The Details

I'm somebody who likes to pay attention to little details, I believe that attention to small details contributes to big successes. As a producer, it is important to know that the audience will accept your successes without noticing them, but they will immediately notice your failures... mistakes are always more noticeable than things done right.

Design is an important factor when creating a work of art. Ideas are what drive a project, and ideas are what make something memorable. There are millions of videos out on the web, and it takes something special to be memorable and thought provoking. Because of this, ideas pose a challenge to a creative person; you have to cut through the clutter of those millions of hours of video in order to have your work shine through. If your ideas are good enough, and you are able to communicate them effectively, then you are more likely to reach people.

When creating media, you have to remember that there is a real live person at the other end of your project. Show them something fantastic!

Review and Restructuring

Last week, my final project came up for review.

Review is good, as criticism and advice can go a long way towards cultivating media discernment. Experience is a good tool, and should be found in your toolbox even if you don't possess it yourself.

The Review

In reviewing my final project, the Mass Comm Faculty had a number of things to say. I got advice about all the deliverables that my project has... the video itself, the press kit, as well as a review of the project overall.

Video

I still have some work to do in order to present the visual effects the way I want them to look. In the draft version of the video, the effect was demonstrated, but not as clearly as I'd like. Going into the review I knew that this was a challenge that I'd have to overcome; however, I got some unexpected advice about how to overcome the challenge of showing "sound vision".

In another scene, a composite shot of a spaceship needed some work... the ship looked alright except that it did not interact with the environment the way it should have. I need to make sure that object in the background are sufficiently blurry if they are artificially added to the scene.

Another factor that was discussed was how I used titling. It was recommended to refrain from using a white shadow behind my title text as it is not aesthetically appealing. This should be fairly easy to remedy, and shouldn't require a too much time away from the challenges mentioned above.

Press Kit

With the press kit, I needed to pay attention to the conventions of drafting a press kit. If the logo of your production company does not fit the theme of you film, then it should be minimized. This was something that I didn't know, I had thought that branding was important to the press kit; however, it seems that the overall theme of the press kit is more important than the logo itself.

Another element that came to the attention of my reviewers was that my summary was too long. This was a mistake on my part as I should have presented a summary instead of a synopsis. The summary should be short and to the point because it is meant as a fast introduction to the story. If the reader wishes to continue reading, a synopsis can be provided later in the packet.