Video Questions

1. What was your vision as a director/creator for this project?

I wanted to create pictures where the formation of how the twist was presented was similar to the original story we read in class. I did this by making the viewers think that the girl was being kidnapped in the story while she was actually being saved from being kidnapped as a baby.

2. What elements of the original story did you maintain in your project?

Similar to the original story my pictures have a young female main character who goes through many different emotions about her situation. The original story took place over one hour.  The story that goes along with my pictures also happens in an hour or less. My pictures have a fast paced timeline as it goes straight from late at night to her being kidnapped quickly after she goes to bed, driven to the police station and the police officers telling her about who she really was.

3. What did you change about the original story in your project?

The age of my main character is still a young female like I previously mentioned. However, I made her a teenager instead of a woman in her late twenties like in The Story of an Hour. I also did not keep the original character names that were used in The Story of an Hour. I also had a happy ending of Nora (Emily) being reunited with her parents at the end of my video. However, the original story did not have a happy ending as the main character dies of a heart attack.

4. What is the twist or climax of your adaptation?

The climax of my adaptation is when Nora finds out her real name is Emily Greene rather than Nora Diamond, she has a big family with lots of siblings in Knoxville, Tennessee and her parents were actually two fugitives who kidnapped her 16 years ago. The twist is that she finds out her real story is different from what she had been told her entire  life.

5. What is the strongest part of your project so far?

The strongest part of my project is that I have a lot of backstory and information about each photo that is shown. I did this by starting the project with writing a long story and then dividing it into sections. After that, I found or created a photo to go along with each part of the story.

6. What is the weakest part of your project so far?

The weakest part of my project so far is that I can not find the sources for some of the photos that I used. I forgot to copy the web address when I first found the photos and I am struggling to find some of them on the internet again. I also have still not made a movie out of the pictures yet so I will need to do that by tomorrow.

7. How has this project helped you learn about how stories work?

I understand that one of the first steps someone must take to writing a story is deciding what they want the topic to be about. Other important things to decide in the very early stages are characters, setting and the climax. I learned that adding specific details especially when using pictures can add more depth to the story. I also learned about how much more interesting a story can be made when a twist is added.

8. How has this project helped you learn how theater works?

I knew very little about theatre before this class. This project has helped me learn that in the theater it is the climax that creates the drama and draws in the audience. It can be even more interesting if there is a twist in the story as well. I had to create the whole story from scratch which is what someone who is writing a play would have to also do. They have to decide on very important things such as the characters, setting and plot.