Lit & Media Studies

       In reading the graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters , I found throughout the graphic novel that Emil Ferris establishes an author's voice in her drawings and writings alone, and in the way that they compliment one another. One of the first things I noticed was that the background was lined paper. This defined her voice from the beginning. In this graphic novel, it establishes that the main character is a twelve year old girl and the lined paper reminds the reader that it's from her point of view, even if the drawings and vocabulary don't match her age. I haven't read many graphic novels, but from my experience it seems that her voice is clearly seen in the style of the drawings and writing because it is so different from others. Graphic novels typically seem to have a sort of grid layout with lots of color and a specific font. However, Ferris's novel uses black and white drawings with little color and font that looks like handwriting. Additionally, her...

       For this assignment, I was able to watch three films directed by Wes Anderson, and analyze his author's voice as it appears in his films. After watching Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, I found that there is definitely a strong author's voice in his work. This voice that forms his stories visually is, in my opinion, formed in his production design, camera angles, and character development as some main ways.        The PD was the first thing that stuck out to me in all three films because this is what my eye always goes to first, but also because of its consistency and use of color. Anderson always uses symmetrical balance in his sets and places his characters in them accordingly so much so that it sticks out to the audience. For me this is unusual because I usually have to focus a bit away from the story to see the production design, and that to me means it's done well. However, in Anderson's films he purposel...

Although I have seen all the Star Wars films, I chose to read this script mostly because I love the films, but also because I knew it would present a challenge to develop sets that are different from the ones in the film but still keep with the theme of Star Wars. It was amazing to be able to read one of the original scripts, their side notes, and see how it all came together in production. It was a challenge, but a wonderful challenge at that. I chose to write how I would change it from the view of the set designer because this is what I want to be in the future so I thought it only suiting.  So if I were approaching the script of Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back as the set designer of the film, I would focus on the atmosphere of the set and how it the overall set can compliment the characters in each set. As I read the original script of the film, in the beginning it was clear that they were located in an arctic region, so I would have the rebel base set on a planet where...

        To create a scene from Ready Player One that fits the medium of virtual reality, I would adapt the scene from page 22 of the novel where he is describing the place he lives. To start this scene I would have the first frame be the corner of a crammed laundry room with a makeshift bed and his small window and a washer machine underneath it showing in the frame. The sun would slowly come up and the light would start filling his room, with a blue tint and a foggy atmosphere in his room. The camera focuses on Wane as he starts dressing quickly, then goes to his hands as he puts on his gloves, and slides open the window, where we also see the frost on the sill and on the glass. The camera moves in front of him as he looks out into his area and we see his red cheeks, showing how cold it is. The frame moves out to show the rest of his neighborhood and shows that his aunt’s trailer was the top one in a stack of trailers. Then the continues to zoom out to reveal the r...