Primary Thoughts on the Multimodal Project

Among the readings I get into in this seminar, I am intrigued by the cross-disciplinary and associative literacy practice that multimedia and multimodal composition internalizes. In Writing New Media and Multimodal Composition, noted scholars discuss how student writers’ audio, visual, as well as alphabetic literacy got lively exercised via specific multimodal projects. In order to understand further ways in which writers/composers can be genuinely benefit from creating certain type of multimodal projects, I decide to form a piece that contains both visual and textual elements and thus to experience possible improvement of literacy stimulated by associative interpretation and progressive thinking.

Under this broad and abstract claim, what I am thinking of doing exactly is to develop literature analysis of a piece of poem which is both imagist and conceptual at the same time. The “reading” of the poem will start with a visual representation of it. In other words, I want to remake the poem by a video with embedded written analysis on its implication. The poem I chose is as follows:

Recipe

Round Eyes

Ingredients: scissors, Scotch magic transparent tape,

Eyeliner—water based, black.

Optional: false eyelashes.

Cleanse face thoroughly.

For best results, powder entire face, including eyelids.

(lighter shades suited to total effect desired)

With scissors, cut magic tape 1/16” wide, ¾”-1/2” long—

Depending on length of eyelid.

Stick firmly onto mid-upper eyelid area

(looking down into handmirror facilitates finding

adequate surface)

If using false eyelashes, affix first on lid, folding any

Excess lid over the base of eyelash with glue.

Paint black eyeliner on tape and entire lid.

Do not cry.

By Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, 1987

I will take efforts in embodying the sarcastic but bitter representation of the popular way of doing make-up among Asian girls by using edited videos and arranging images. In addition, a reading of the multiple criticism contained in the poem will also be provided in the video in the form of texts. Based on this video project, my hope is to gain thoughts in multimodal composing as well as the teaching of multiple literacy with an associative approach.