A Case For A Nation: Week 3 and 4 ✅

A fresh start to the new year and an even fresher project to go with it. Our first project of 2021 is tilted The Case for a Nation. This one was led by the Driving question: How can an understanding of nationalism in the past, help us make sense of today? As you can see from the DQ, this project is all about Nationalism and all that comes with it. Living in the time that we currently experiencing, this topic could not be more relevant. With multiple examples  around the world, especially the current event happening in the U.S.A., learning about this global symptom is more important than ever.

The learning journey for this project began with a thorough explanation of Nationalism and how we will apply what we learn into our work pieces. Since this project consists of a whopping 10 milestones, I decided that it would be best to reflect on each weeks learning, instead of a final post where I may forget some of the learning. With three solid milestones in the books, I have a fresh POV on how I will get to my end product, both physically and mentally.

Although milestone one was our first big piece of work, when I reflect on what most helped me through the learning process, I realized that our first activity of  brainstorming what made up a nation, had really helped me understand the topic at hand. Since we couldn’t learn about nationalism if we didn’t know what a nation was, this activity was crucial in our leaning process. After discovering all of the the possible variables that could define a nation, we were asked to decide which variable could most describe the foundation of a nation. I decided that although most nations often have a common political view, geographical boarders define a nation.

After a personal finalized answer, it was time to gather a another point of view on the topic. For milestone one, we were asked to interview a parent on nationalism and what they think makes up a nation. This process was extremely interesting. To learn what a completely different generation’s point of view and opinion on the topic was quite interesting. I found that my interviewee tended to use examples of nationalism from their past, or from what they learned in school themselves. This exercise helped me understand nationalism in the past, which was a huge step forward to answering the final question.

By milestone two we had begun to dive into the twisted history of nationalism around the world. We were introduced to the topic by participating in a short activity. For it, we exhibited five different nations that where changed by nationalism. After briefly learning about all five nations, I decided that I would choose Italy. Since one of our previous projects was about The Renaissance, which I found very interesting, I thought that this country could hold some pretty fascinating information. We were then asked to create the KNOW YOUR STORY tab in this years FILM PLANNER. This was the milestone aspect of this step in the process. Other than more in-depth research on nationalism in Italy, we were asked to create a structured story on how nationalism changed Italy as a whole. For this part I was glad I picked Italy. I guess the teacher pick the country for a reason, but the amount nationalism changed Italy was transformative. In the KYS tab there were four questions we needed to answer. We were asked to find the purpose, message, and audience of the story. We were also asked to list our sources for info in MLA format at the bottom of the page, which ended up to be useful for our end of the week video.
This milestone was lead by three competencies:

Enlglish 9

Using Resources / Use Evidence from Various Sources: Have I found diverse sources and evaluated them for their relevance, accuracy, and reliability?

Social Studies 9

Identify Continuity and Change: How are lives and conditions alike over time and how have they changed?

Maker 9

Empowered Learner: How might I use technology to construct knowledge?

I exhibited the Identify continuity and change competency in this milestone by clearly writing what changed and stayed the same throughout the unification of Italy below my story mountain. For the empowered learner competency, I thought that I showed my understanding through a voice note to help deepen my message, which ended up greatly enhancing the piece of work. I also thought that I showed my understanding of the Using Resources competency with the diversity of websites that I used to find the needed information.

Milestone 3 came faster than expected. After a completed Screenplay, and storyboard, our knowledge and extended research was put the test. Although I hadn’t mentioned it, we knew exactly what we were going to be asked to do for our final product right from the get go. For the milestone we used our story or ding and digital skills, as well as the knowledge about our story, to create an animatic. This would answer the question; How significant was nationalism around the world? My answer to this question lay in the many hours of ongoing research as well as the the story. planning process. In Italy, nationalism not only changed the way the country was governed, but united a nation that is still relevant to this day. People are powerful when the unite, and in this example, the love of their nation changed the world.

https://youtu.be/CMxcYP1aLT4

The competencies for milestone three were a smidge different than last’s. The competencies included:

Designing Texts: Have I used writing and design processes to plan, develop, create, and refine engaging and meaningful texts considering purpose, audience, and message?

Social Studies 9

Identify Continuity and Change: How are lives and conditions alike over time and how have they changed?

Maker 9

Empowered Learner: How might I use technology to construct knowledge?

For the designing texts competency, we were assessed on our story and the message it bestowed. Since the Italian confederation holds such a complex history, I needed to extract the most important events and weave them together to create a compelling story. This was an incredibly useful skill to have not only for future projects, but for the rest of my life. Incorporating continuity and change was much easier since I had already planned my main points of focus in our second milestone. I creatively incorporated a modern day historian to reflect on the two questions which made this aspect of the milestone very clear and easy to follow. Using keynote’s full capabilities I used all of my animations to portray movement and to enhance the story as a whole. Although the artwork wasn’t a top priority due to the fact that they were only there to represent an image, I thought that a more detailed drawing would help the director, or cinematographer when shooting each shot. My whole process consisted of many other apps such as iMovie and images to help organize and curate my final video.

Well, there you have it. Two weeks in the books, both, memorable and packed with important knowledge.  If you haven’t already, you can read my previous post to gain some backup knowledge on the 2021 Case For a Nation project. The overall project was led by the driving question: How can understanding nationalism in the past, help us make sense of today? Although, this week specifically was led by the essential question: how did nationalism change British North America in the 1800s. 

The first milestone in this weeks process was actually milestone 4 since we already reached milestone three last week.  This milestone was all about building knowledge. Living in Canada for most of my life I found that I never really learned the true history of the incredible country  that Canada is today. As I reflect, I realize how important this knowledge was towards my worldview and my understanding of everyday life. When I think about how the nationalism impacted Canada’s confederation and all history prior,  I find myself with a hanging jaw.

In this milestone we completed the Know Your Story Tab on this weeks film planner. In the tab I recorded all notes, ideas, and the core questions for our final video. We also identified our story structure of our tutorial video, which would be the end product of this case study. I thought that I used Apple Number’s many features to best show my message, and in this case my knowledge of BNA.

Once I knew my story, it was time to move onto the next planning stages of the movie making process.  Although I created a very well thought out screenplay, we were only formally assessed on the storyboard of our video. Milestone 5 included three competencies:  Designing Texts: Have I used writing and design processes to plan, develop, create, and refine engaging and meaningful texts considering purpose, audience, and message?

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Identify Continuity and Change: How are lives and conditions alike over time and how have they changed?

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Using Resources / Use Evidence from Various Sources: Have I found diverse sources and evaluated them for their relevance, accuracy, and reliability?

For my storyboard I thought that I showed immense detail in each frame. Although, my estimation of the timing, ended up to be quite wrong.

After an approved storyboard and screenplay, the difficulties of the filming process knocked me over like a rouge  wave. Since I spent so much time on the storyboard, I ended up to start a day late on the final milestone. I was very proud of my metaphor for Canadas confederation. A chemistry experiment seemed like it would work, and with the planning I completed in the KYS tab, screenplay, and the storyboard, I thought that filming would come easy… tell that to my 12:00 am self trying to film an engaging video! Although it was difficult, I managed keep my eyes open long enough to capture some useful footage for the editing process.

The next day I went to school with nearly 20 minutes of footage. That evening after school, was the longest editing session that I had faced in my entire PLP experience. By the end I had gotten my video down to a little under 15 mins, but I new that I would need to shorten even more. Another night of revised editing and I had finally got my video down to a satisfactory time. With my video under ten minutes I was ready to hand it in one last time.

Reflecting on the competencies, I realized my understanding of each one had chaned since they were first visited at the beginning of week one. I not only showed unique examples of my work for each one, but each use became stronger. For example, starting of with my, modern day historian in the animatic, to what I thouht to be a clear physical representation of  British influence on BNA. I ended up having a lot of trouble tieing this idea with my chemistry experiment. Another example is the empowered learner competency. By the final video, my use of technology to form a well crafted video had improved vividly under the circumstances that I was in. Although my video was very long and at times hard to watch, the lessons I learned in the process should greatly help me going forward.  My story and understanding of each case study has also improved from the animatic a week ago. In this video I was almost able to tell an interesting story with my creative idea.

Since milestone 6 was due for Friday morning, we still had all of that afternoon to learn our new case study. As we move further along in the timeline,  the birth of some of Canadas darkest years arise. In this case study we are focusing on oppression in Canada and what the culprits believed justified their actions. We had a choice between a side study of Louis Riel and the Métis, or the focus of the Indian Act in Canada. After creating the know Your Story tab once agin, and finding the story of Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance, it was up to us if we wanted to extend our learning and focus on oppression of the first peoples of Canada. That night I went home and researched all I need to know about the second topic provided. Although the subject is tragic, I decided that I wanted to know more about the issue that seen still to this day. I found the story and completed milestone 7 which is the screen play to the explainer video. The explainer video is going to be our end product for this case study. In this milestone I ended up to show a very sufisticated understanding of the designing text competency. I used intricate and powerful wording help tell the story of the case study. For my video I will try to clearly layout continuity since my screenplay could have more clarity around the subject.

Well, the video is done and so are the four other milestones that came after. It has been a trek but before I give you the “deits” on that, lets pickup from where I last finished off. Okay, Milestone eight.  It was a long couple of days planning this video out, although with the screenplay and storyboard at hand, the actual filming an editing process,  flew by like an eagle in the wind. I took the script in pages and transformed it into a teleprompter, which made the filming process much easier.  Using the storyboard I was able to gather the images easily and efficiently In the designing text competency, we were asked to design texts that showed meaningful purposes. In the screenplay, as I said earlier, I showed my understanding through word choice,  and with all of the resources, I crafted a story that would give someone an deep understanding on the Indian Act and it’s outcomes. Finally, putting together the images and animations to the video. Although this part took a while, (like all editing does) I ended up to enjoy the process. Unlike the previous three videos, I didn’t find myself loosing focus or spending to much time on one aspect of  the video. I flowed smoothly and was extremely efficient. Besides for one “ the struggle is real” moment, where I could not line up audio with the visuals, My video process was one of the most satisfying so far.

After four videos and nearly nine chances to show each competency, the destination at the end of the road was finally here. Milestone nine was a cumulative video, meaning it was a combination of all of our learning topics. We were given the choice between the three different types of videos that we had done so far. Since I was proud of all of my videos, I decided that it would be best just to incorporate a couple that most stood out to me. I chose documentary style for transitions, animatic and explainer for the different case studies, and new kind of video called a “John Green Video”. The John Green video is a just a fast-paced factual video, with a mix of live action and photos. After all of the videos I had done so far, the film planner had become habitual. Since I already had all of the information and sources needed, I quickly filled out the know your story tab and moved on to the screenplay.  I past videos, before this year, the thought of making a detailed script before every video was inconceivable. If I already had an idea of what I was going to make why wouldn’t I just go with my gut? Well… it may be because I’m a teenager, but  what once may have been a crystal clear idea one day, usually turns a bunch of mosh by the next. The importance of the screenplay was heavily noted in this video. From my past failed attempts of keeping it in the time restraint, I realized that if you aim for your goal in your screenplay, you will usually go over. Although, if you aim under and focus all of your energy to keep it short and sweet, your goal will probably be achieved. Luckily for me I had already learned this lesson for milestone 9. With a reasonable goal of ten minutes, I tried as hard as I could stay in my time frame.

I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the extensive pre-pre video planning I did the night before. I decided that since this was going to be the last chance to show my understanding of the different competencies and the last chance to show how much I learned about video making, I would put all my energy to make this video the best video I HAD EVER MADE. The first plan of attack was to brainstorm. With four different case studies, engraved in my head, I planned how each story would answer the driving question of the project. I started broad, with each case study , then went deeper and deeper until I found how and when I would  use each piece of evidence in my final video. This could not halve been a better idea. With that I was able to find an order for my video, and create a meaningful, and out of the box, screenplay, which ended up to be a little over ten minutes long. Filming was just as fun. Using the most amount of my creative mind as possible, I constructed two different charters and a really good story to go with. Although I found the answer to the driving question during my primary planning, my curated answer to: How can an understanding of nationalism help us understand today? Ended up to be:

An understanding of nationalism can help us understand the world through different perspectives. It can help us understand geographical boarders, country’s inhabitants ethnicities, current events, and the daily appearances in your life that are unique to north Vancouver.   

Overall, I was really proud of the work I put into this video. For the finding resources competency, my use of sources extend to nearly twenty by the end. I found it really interesting how much I use different cites, whether it be a quick fact check, or the basis of the entire video. When it comes to designing texts, I thought that by the last two videos, not only my knowledge, but my use of technology and word choice to fluently tell each story had improved tenfold. That point also ties into the empowered learner competency. In this competency, I thought that I showed the most improvement. From a non ingaging and way too long, tutorial video, to milestone 9 I have found ways to enhance my videos that I had never thought possible.

finally, after milestone 9 was done and out of the way it was time to celebrate. Using similar questions as the first video of their projects, I interviewed Jason’s on as he reacted to my cumulative video. This was awesome and was a great way to show how much my video skills had improved.

Although it sad to end this quarter, I am very greatful for all that I had learned about video making as well as making my way through the struggles of the everyday. Make sure you comment how you thought the videos were, and maybe even lave a like on my youtube channel 🙂 thanks for reading!