Developing my idea for the Mulitmodal Text

As my multimodal text will look like a diary and is set in a school, I need to decide what rooms will need to be included in my story. 
My multimodal text will cover a school week where my main character will cause a mishap each day in a different part of the school. Each scenario will first include the main characters version of events; and because he/she is a kid it will be a made up version of what actually happened, this is so it adds humour to the story and also because the children can relate to the story. Therefore I needed to think of 5 different scenes and think what might happen in them.

My first scene will be set in the canteen, looking at a canteen it is clear that a food fight should happen in this scene; with use of the tables and chairs, the food and involve the canteen staff too.
  
One idea could be the main character versus the evil dinner lady who looks something very similar to the one below.


My second scene will be set in a classroom, when looking at a primary school classroom, the main things that need to be included are a teacher, maybe a teaching assistant, pens, pencils, books and maybe paint.

Ms Battle-axe from Horrid Henry books

 

Miss Honey and Matilda

In this scene, the main character tells the story of how he/she saved the teacher from an alien that came in through the window so needed to attack the alien with the classroom supplies such as paint and paper bombs. But in reality, there was no alien and instead the main character ended up attacking the teacher.

My third scene will be set in the school library, in the school library the main character will interact with the books. My main idea is for him/her to make a den out of the books to hide from either the teaching assistant or maybe some small creatures.

My fourth scene will be set in the toilets, he/she will have a water fight with another student and found soaking wet by the headteacher. The main character will say it's because the other student started it but really it was his/her own fault. The headteacher will be just as scary as Ms Trunchbull or a huge male headteacher that resembles an army officer.

Ms Trunchbull from Matilda

And my fifth and final scene will be set on the field, the main character will end up getting incredibly muddy at school and having to be picked up by their parent. The child will say it's because they had to find the lost treasure but again it's only their imagination.
These are possible ideas for my story, the next thing to do will be to try and draw these characters and scenarios and make them possible.

Starting to think of the story for my Multimodal Text

When thinking of an idea for my multimodal text, I've decided to base my idea from a book I read when I was in primary school. The book illustrated a girl's day at school, I remember enjoying the girls description of her events. That is why I've decided to have my multimodal text set as a diary. 
I had my first day of placement today which meant that I could look at examples of texts in the classroom. 

  

In the book corner, they had novels by Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson, the Horrid Henry novels, Doctor Who books also the Alex Rider novels by Anthony Horowitz. I believe my idea of a story will be similar to these novels as it follows one specific character and what happens to them. 

As my multimodal text is set as a diary, I thought I should look at the children's work in the classroom, how they drew but particularly how they drew people because in my text there will be interactions between the main character and his/her classmates.

  

 

I also looked into the children's books which they brought from home to see the illustrations which were similar to what I picture to be in my text.

When looking in the book corner, I picked up a Horrid Henry book because it is a character and book that is very popular. Henry's mischievous actions makes these books enjoyable for the children to read so that is why my character will get up to naughty mishaps in my multimedia text. But to show really how mischievous she/he is, I will also include a true version of what happened in the day, which may be shown through the eyes of a parent.

Starting To Think about My Multimodal Text

Starting to Think about My Multimodal Text

Last seminar session I analysed a picture book and looked into how different semiotics were used to create meaning. And in this blog I will discuss how I would like to use semiotics to create meaning.

The first signifier I would like to take into account when creating my own work is the positioning of the characters. In my text I think I would like to make it clear to the audience who is the character as will make the story clearer and then the reader can relate the story to the pictures of the characters and feel within the story. One way in which I can do this is by positioning the the main character always on the left of the page facing their fellow characters on the right as this is a well known way of showing the main character. I would also like to close ups of the character as she is the main focus of the story.

Text wise, I think I want to use something 'light-hearted' as I think I want to create on story very similar to those of Disney; something with a little adventure that ends with a happy ending. 

So looking at this font, I have decided that my font would be similar if I used something that is rounded and curly rather than a rigid font like Times New Roman as it isn't as friendly. And for my audience; which I am targeting as a young child, the friendlier the font the better as it will appeal to the reader.

The actual pages is something I need to consider, I would like all or the majority of the pages to be covered by a picture, so no white frame, this is because I want the reader to feel within the story and in the adventure rather than an outsider so they can fully enjoy the story and get excited by the action!

Another aspect of the pages I want to consider is the use of colour as that really stood out to me when analysing the picture book. I want to make sure that the reader has a sense of what's going on and how the characters are feeling through the colour themes on every page. I will take advantage of using bright colours in times of joy and dark colours when the characters are worried or frightened of the action in the story. 

These are a few things to consider when creating my multimodal text but my ideas will hopefully grow as I gain more of an idea of what my story entails.

Signifiers in Story Books

Signifiers in Story Books

During this seminar, we had to look at the page structures in children books and how they are important element within the books. The book that I looked at was 'The Wolves in the Walls' by Neil Gaiman.

Firstly, we had to look at signifiers on the pages in this book. A signifier is "the form which the sign takes" and is seen as the "material (or physical) form of the sign - it is something which can be seen, heard, touched, smelt or tasted" (Chandler, 1994).

The main signifiers in the book were the characters; mum, dad, daughter and son, and the wolves. The most important signifier out of these was probably the wolves as the setting of the story changed at different parts due to the wolves, and the whole story revolved around them. If we removed the wolves from the book then the story wouldn't add up. After that the next important signifier is the daughter, Lucy, because she kept the story going as it's her story.

Secondly, the actual pages needed to be analysed, for example in this story there were two different types of pages, first being where the whole page was filled with a picture which was the majority of the pages. The second being, a few pages with 4 different pictures within a white frame.

 
           When the pages were filled with the picture it allowed for the reader to feel within the story compared to pages with a white frame where readers will then feel like an outsider to the story overlooking what's going on. Also, when looking at pages with the four different pictures we can see that they are used to show intense conversation between characters but to also show sequence of events to get the story moving. The final element I'll look at is how colour is used in this book and it's importance. Within this book the colour theme on the pages change, this is to show both a change in the atmosphere and a change in the setting. For example, when indoors and the family feel at ease without a worry the colour scheme is warm with reds and oranges and then the colour scheme changes to cold, dark blues when the family is pushed outside because the wolves have escaped have the walls. 












This seminar has again shown how a story isn't always told through text only and how different signifiers and elements can be essential in telling a story to a reader and making them feel connected to the story.

 

 

 

Chandler, D., 1994. Semiotics for Beginners. [Online]
Available at: http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html
[Accessed 14 11 2013].

Analysing Inanimate Alice

Analysing Inanimate Alice

Today, in preparation for our assessment which is to create our own digital novel, we watched an episode of the digital novel Inanimate Alice. Inanimate Alice follows the story of a girl in different countries. In the episode we watched today Alice and her mum had to try and find her day who had been missing for 3 days. To help us create an effective digital novel, we analysed this episode to see how the elements of this episode; such as sounds, pictures and staff, create meaning. For example, throughout the episode music was playing which changed pace to fit the storyline, whenever there was tension or panic in the story then the music played was of a fast pace. Music also helped set the scene, oriental music reminded us that the story was set in China. Another element that created meaning was pictures and videos, the most prominent video was one showing a moving road which emphasised the fact that Alice and her mother are on a long journey. By looking at the elements in Inanimate Alice it is now clear how important they are in creating an effective story as they can say a lot about the story without having any text.